[Butch] Dr. Baltz, uh, thank you for meeting with us again.
W-We want to drill down on that fifth day. September 1st.
We're all gonna die.
It was anarchy.
No one knew what was going on. No one was in charge.
And decisions were made that should not have been made.
[Susan] We need to seriously lower our head count,
and I think that you should evacuate with the next group.
Evacuate? [laughs]
Susan, I can't evacuate, I'm a doctor.
Doctors look after patients.
Ho-- Horace, there is nothing else any of us can do.
I was told to get ready to leave, right then.
That I was, um, going to be sent out on a rescue boat.
I have a tremendous sense of guilt about it.
About not staying there to the very end.
You know,
true heroism would have been to remember why we're doctors,
and no matter how bad the circumstances are,
to adhere to our oath, "Do no harm."
But in all that chaos, people just cast off who they were.
And this blindness just swept in and took over everything.
I mean, it took over everything.
[singer] Wade in the water ♪
Wade in the water, children ♪
[singer, chorus] Wade in the water ♪
Wade in the water, children ♪
Wade in the water ♪
God is gonna trouble these waters ♪
[chorus] Man went down to the river ♪
Man went down to the river, Lord ♪
Man went down to the river ♪
Went down there for to pray ♪
[singer] Oh ♪
[singer, chorus] Wade in the water ♪
Wade in the water, children ♪
Wade in the water ♪
God is gonna trouble these waters ♪
[vocalizing]
[singer] God's gonna trouble these waters ♪
[music ends]
[Foti] Afternoon, everybody.
Memorial Hospital is a hospital in the city of New Orleans.
It's a big hospital, been there a long time.
Inside that hospital is a smaller hospital called Lakeside.
LifeCare.
LifeCare has acute care patients,
some of whom, it is alleged, were killed by lethal injection.
Dr. Anna Pou and two nurses, Cheri Landry and Lori Budo,
have been arrested on four charges of principal to second degree murder.
Four patients were injected with morphine and "mazdolome."
Midazolam.
Midazolam, otherwise known as Versed.
Now, either drug can kill you,
but when you put them together, you get a lethal cocktail.
Medical professionals perhaps thought maybe they were God.
They were entrusted with looking after the safety of people who needed help.
This is not euthanasia. This is plain and simple homicide.
The case now goes
to the offices of Orleans Parish district attorney, Eddie Jordan,
who will choose whether to pursue indictments for murder from a grand jury.
[reporters clamoring] -[Foti] Thank you.
More fallout from Hurricane Katrina on Tuesday--
A doctor and two nurses are charged with murder.
...facing charges that they murdered four patients
at Memorial Hospital in New Orleans.
What kind of law enforcement goes after doctors and nurses
who stayed at their posts during a crisis?
The attorney general's office arrested three upstanding medical professionals
so he could have himself a media event to bolster his own reputation.
Is your client, Dr. Pou, innocent?
Yes. No doubt. Absolutely.
There was no criminal misconduct.
Here, you see this affidavit?
This is just a piece of paper with allegations on it,
and like every piece of paper, it's got two sides.
[phone ringing]
[Simmons] There's no motive here, and there is no homicide.
What am I gonna do, Vince?
How can I go outside? I mean, what are people gonna think of me?
What they're gonna think--
They're gonna think you're being falsely persecuted, which you are.
[ringing continues]
Yeah, hello?
Nope, she's not available.
Excuse me?
Yeah, well, it doesn't matter who I am. Okay?
No, I cannot.
You know what? I'm just going to unplug the damn thing.
[people chattering]
There's like-- There's still six or seven of them lurking around out there.
You're kidding me. -This is surreal.
[sighs] I mean, I have to surrender my passport.
We have to show up with $100,000 in bail by Thursday,
or they're gonna put me back in jail.
I cannot believe this is actually happening.
[cell phone ringing]
Mine's off. They found yours? -Hmm.
Hello. -Vince, it's Dan Nuss. How are you doing?
[sighs] Hey, Dan. Uh, we-we're doing the best we can, honestly.
Listen, I-I'm trying to reach Anna.
Yeah. [sighs] All right. Wou-- Just hang on a minute.
Hi, Dan.
Anna, I'm so sorry.
What's going on, what they're putting you through, it just sickens me.
Everyone's on your side, and people are asking what they can do.
That's reassuring to hear.
So, here's what I propose. I want to set up a legal defense fund for you.
Dan, that's not necessary.
Yes, it is. You know, let's be pragmatic. You're gonna need the money.
And people all wanna help.
That is incredibly thoughtful.
Please.
That a few disgruntled individuals can make these ridiculous allegations.
And then, suddenly this whole thing
becomes a-a absurd sensational national news story?
Well, as I said, it sickens me.
I cannot tell you just h-how much I appreciate this call and your support.
Of course. We're all here for you.
Well, battle's on.
We do all this work, and Foti can't even get the names right.
Yeah. All that matters is what the New Orleans district attorney does.
[Virginia] What do you know about him?
Well, I'm not sure where Eddie Jordan's heart and mind is on this.
Great.
[grunts]
We just need to make this case as undeniable as possible to him.
The first thing any DA's gonna wanna know is how the experts classify these deaths.
So that's where we're gonna focus, on the forensic evidence.
[Frank] I promised a night on the town for coming to consult.
So I got us a table at Galatoire's.
Then we'll see what kind of trouble we get into after that.
Bunch of pathologists on a bar crawl. [laughs]
Doesn't get much better than that. -[all chuckle]
So, Butch, uh, the DA is coming to this meeting, or not?
Eddie Jordan knows about the meeting.
Well, let's just get started. We can catch him up.
Robert, do you want to lead off?
Sure. So, my lab took a look at tissue samples from 41 bodies.
Twenty-three of them tested positive for morphine or midazolam, or both.
Okay, well, what's your analysis of the levels?
These drug concentrations, they seem very high to me.
They're sticking out like a sore thumb.
Well, given the condition of the bodies, your results, do you think they're valid?
Absolutely. Yes, I do.
All right, then. Let's go through the patients one by one.
Alice Hutzler, 90-year-old LifeCare patient being treated for pneumonia.
[Baden] Wednesday night, she had no documented complaints of pain or distress
that indicated a need for these drugs.
Yet she was dead on Thursday afternoon.
With morphine and midazolam in her liver, brain and muscle tissue.
[Robert] Neither of which was prescribed. -[Cyril] Now, looking at these results,
my analysis, Michael, let me know if you concur, is homicide.
I concur.
[Frank] Rose Savoie.
Both drugs present, no medical need indicated. Homicide.
[Baden] Agreed. -[Frank] Wilda McManus.
Homicide.
Emmett Everett.
This patient was apparently aware, conscious and alert.
With neither drug prescribed.
Homicide. -[Baden] I concur.
Sorry I'm late.
[Virginia] Who are you? -I'm assistant district attorney,
Michael Morales. Who are you?
I'm Butch Schafer. This is Virginia Rider. We're from the attorney general's office.
Where's Eddie Jordan? -I'm here on his behalf.
The DA's got something better to do than look into 20-plus possible murders?
I'm the lead prosecutor on this case.
If you have something to share, let's hear it.
Mr. Morales, can we talk privately for a minute?
Mr. Morales, I'm sure you would agree
that the toxicology reports in this case are critical.
Obviously.
We got the city coroner, two outside forensic pathology experts
and the director of one of the nation's top labs,
who all flew in here to examine the evidence.
[stammers] It feels like Eddie Jordan should be here.
The attorney general knew that we were gonna be the ones prosecuting this case,
but he's chosen to barely involve us.
But this is our goddamn case,
and we'll decide how it's gonna be managed.
So you don't think this case merits the DA's full attention?
[Morales] Any death in this city merits our full attention.
But I would not call these typical homicides.
[Butch] Look... [sighs]
...I have been a prosecutor, like you, for 27 years.
And I can tell you that we have built you a very good case. A very solid case.
And I'll be the one to decide whether or not that's true.
You ready to go back in?
I am sensing an enthusiasm gap between us and ADA Morales.
You think? [scoffs]
[guests chattering]
Is anybody still talking to those investigators?
Not without a subpoena or a Tenet lawyer.
Hope nobody else says a goddamn word to them.
If you don't mind me asking, uh,
why shouldn't the staff be willing to talk to the investigators?
If they didn't do anything wrong, then what do they have to worry about?
Are you really that naïve, Horace?
Well, I was just wondering
why nobody's willing to acknowledge that mistakes were made.
Could I ask you a question, Horace? -Sure.
If you were given a choice between, uh, comforting a patient,
possibly quickening his death,
or abandoning patients to suffer a slow agonizing death,
which would you choose to do?
Why, I don't believe that was the choice.
You can comfort people without killing them.
And no one had to abandon them.
The fact is that when doctors are given the untenable position
of having to choose who gets care and who does not get care,
there are no right answers, Horace.
There's just terrible choices.
That's not what happened.
It isn't? Where was the checklist? The emergency protocols?
Did anybody ever define this criteria by which we were supposed to be operating?
Ewing, all I want is for us to sit down, all together,
and figure out what went wrong so we can learn from this for the future.
I'm gonna get myself some crawfish.
Yeah, me too.
[reporter] After Hurricane Katrina,
the Superdome became a symbol of loss nationwide.
Now, it's synonymous with hope and recovery.
A massive renovation effort is underway,
with workers laboring seven days a week to fix what was once broken.
We have been asked to cease investigating.
What? Are you kidding me?
Morales... [scoffs] ...has drafted a letter from Eddie Jordan to the attorney general
saying that they don't need us anymore,
that our continued work would not be advantageous.
"Not advantageous?"
We have 50,000 pages of documentary evidence.
Well, they requested a summary.
A summary of 50,000 pages of work.
Okay, well, how do we respond?
Well, I guess we write him a summary...
and then we drop the 50,000 pages on his ass.
Fuck. [sighs]
When we talked to Carrie Everett,
the first thing she made clear was that her husband, Emmett,
was not about to die when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans.
Mrs. Everett, was your husband near death
when the hurricane hit? -No.
Do you think they didn't want to move him?
Let's be real. You're on the seventh floor.
You got a man, paralyzed, 380 pounds. You really want to risk injuring yourself
to try to carry that man down seven flights of stairs?
[reporter] Because of his size, that's why you think he may have been killed?
Yes, that's absolutely what I believe.
The hurricane caused... -Well, this ain't bad.
The lawsuits against Tenet and Memorial are getting publicity too.
Well, who's filed so far?
That I know, the families of Emmett Everett, Alice Hutzler,
Rose Savoie and Hollis Alford. -[reporter] You believe this was murder?
Yes. I think it was murder.
[reporter] Reporting from New Orleans...
[Simmons] Family members are giving interviews and filing lawsuits.
It's, uh, creating a narrative for us that's less than ideal.
[sighs] What they're saying, it's not true.
Yeah, I-I know, but family members, you know, it's emotionally powerful.
We got to find a way to counter it.
Like what?
I want you to go on 60 Minutes.
They're interested.
It's an opportunity for you to tell your story in your own words.
60 Minutes?
I know you're strong enough to handle it.
They could destroy me.
Or it could be a way for the entire world to see you the way I see you.
Think about it.
If I talk to them, they could twist my words.
You're innocent, Anna.
They need to know who you are.
They need to know you.
That you're a deeply caring person who didn't do anything wrong.
[crew member] All right, guys.
[inhales deeply]
[breathing deeply]
[Morley] This summer, Louisiana's attorney general stunned the city
when he charged that four of Memorial's dead
did not die from illnesses or even from the horrific conditions.
Tonight, for the first time, we hear from the accused.
It is unbelievably shocking for me that I'm actually sitting here,
having this conversation with you on national TV.
And I want everybody to know that I am not a murderer.
You went from being a highly respected physician
to, uh, in the eyes of the law, a criminal. What did that do to you?
It completely ripped my heart out,
because my entire life, I've tried to do good.
And my entire adult life... -She's very compelling.
[Anna] I have given everything I have... -Yeah.
...within me to take care of my patients.
[Morley] Were people dying?
[Anna] Yes, people were dying.
[Morley] From their diseases or from their conditions?
You have to understand that there were very sick people in the hospital.
You had this intense heat,
and we had a lack of all the tools that we normally use.
So people were dying from the horrible conditions
because they were not strong enough to tolerate them.
Jesus. -[Morley] Bodies were piling up.
The chapel became a morgue.
Then gunshots were heard. There was fear that looters might break in.
Did you figure at any point that you were really done for?
[inhales deeply] Because you don't know me, you don't know how tough I am.
I don't think anyone gave up hope.
I can tell you I didn't give up hope because,
as a cancer specialist, you know, I give hope to my patients.
You know, I am hope.
[Morley] She also says she is just not capable of any sort of mercy killing.
I do not believe in euthanasia.
I don't think that it's anyone's decision to make, when a patient dies.
However, what I do believe in is comfort care.
And that means that we ensure that they do not suffer pain.
You know, my role, as I said, is to help them through their pain.
[Morley] As for Dr. Pou and the nurses,
they are faced with the prospect of life in prison
and the possibility of never practicing medicine again.
That is the thing
that is truly the most p-painful for me.
You know, I'm very committed, and I love what I do.
I mean, I really love it. It is the best thing about my life.
And the fact that
I may not be able to continue to do the thing that I love the most,
where I know I can do a lot of good,
is just phenomenally, phenomenally painful to me.
So, guess what? We got in all the final pathology reports.
Oh, wait. Can't I just have a cup of coffee first? [chuckles]
Not a chance. -Okay.
[Virginia] Baden and Wecht confirmed in writing
what they told in Minyard's office.
In Baden's analysis: "Nine deaths from LifeCare were due to drug poisoning."
And Wecht, he analyzed 20 deaths
and concluded that all of them resulted from drug toxicity.
Plus, we got additional reports from Dr. Frank Brescia.
"Homicide in nine cases."
And then Dr. James Young,
who is the president of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences.
"All these patients survived the adverse events of the previous days,
and for every patient on a floor to have died
in one three-and-a-half-hour period with drug toxicity is beyond coincidence."
It's irrefutable.
Well, it's not. [stammers] I mean, nothing's irrefutable.
They're gonna challenge the conditions of the bodies
and Foti's claims about the lethality of the drugs--
But we got four top medical experts all claiming these were homicides.
Yeah. [chuckles]
What is gonna be enough for you, Butch?
This isn't about me. -[scoffs]
What? [stammers] Do I think these folks were murdered?
Hell yes, of course I do.
But what I'm trying to tell you is that
evidence alone isn't going to get it done here.
Why? Because Pou went on 60 Minutes?
Yeah, and she did incredibly well.
A TV show is not gonna decide this. -You don't think it matters?
N-No. -Okay.
People in this city, they're gonna want to know,
"Why should Anna Pou, a heroic doctor, go to jail?
Why should she be the one person to take the blame for everything that went wrong?"
[scoffs] -You know who didn't get arrested?
Nobody from any corporate entity.
Nobody from Tenet. Nobody from LifeCare.
And what about the government officials?
Why wasn't Governor Blanco arrested? Or Mayor Nagin?
They were the leaders. They were the goddamn people in charge!
That's what we have to overcome.
[breathes heavily] Look, I'm sor-- I just--
I'm-- I'm just trying to be realistic here,
so we can-- we can figure out how to get this done.
Yeah, so what do you wanna do?
Uh, let's just send all that forensic evidence over to Morales
and, you know, maybe put a big red bow on it. [chuckles]
Will do.
Congratulations, Anna. You were fantastic. That could not have gone better.
[sighs] I hope you're right. -Oh, I know I am.
I've been in touch with various medical groups.
Statements of support are pouring in.
All right, listen to this.
I go-- Just got this from the Louisiana State Medical Society.
"The LSMS is confident that Dr. Pou performed courageously
under the most challenging and horrific conditions,
and made decisions in the best interest of her patients."
The medical community is lining up behind you.
It's very reassuring.
I just got a call from Frank Minyard, the parish coroner.
He, uh, saw the interview. He wants to sit with you.
Why would I want to do that?
This is a good thing. Trust me.
[Frank] It shocks me that we've never met before.
I knew your father well. In fact, I used to come by your house all the time.
[Anna] Well, you know, I was one of 11 kids.
So, maybe I ran past you or-- or threw up on you, or something. [chuckles]
That could've happened. -[chuckles]
Well, your father was a wonderful man.
And a great physician. -Yes.
And he was especially kind in referring patients to me
when I was starting my OB-GYN practice.
He is the reason that I'm a doctor.
Hmm.
So, how you holding up?
To be honest... [stammers] ...it hasn't been easy.
Oof, I'm sure it has not.
I-I do have some idea what you went through.
During the storm, to get to my office downtown,
I had to wade, swim, then hitch a ride on a boat.
Oh, my word.
I was stuck there for four days.
H-How precious did food and water seem? -Yes.
At night, I couldn't sleep for all the sounds of gunshots.
We heard them too.
The people that weren't here, they just can't understand.
No, they cannot. -No.
My job, as I see it, is not just examining bodies. Anybody can do that.
What I do is try to understand why things happened.
Um, I like to get a handle on the people involved, meet them face-to-face if I can.
I-It's terrible right now, the way our city's being judged.
I couldn't agree more.
I've dealt with over 650 dead bodies from Katrina.
650. And that's just here in New Orleans.
It's unfathomable.
I thank God I was not in that hospital,
that I was not the one who had to make those decisions.
God bless you for all you did.
Thank you. [chuckles] Thank you.
["Boulevard of Broken Dreams" playing on radio]
[DJ] That was Green Day, right here on WVXT Baton Rouge,
home of great rock music.
And now, these local news headlines.
New Orleans coroner, Frank Minyard, released a statement this morning
saying he's found no evidence of homicide
in the case of 45 dead bodies discovered last year
at Memorial Medical Center, in the wake of Hurricane--
[line rings] -[Butch] Hello?
Did you hear what Minyard just announced?
Uh, yeah, I just heard it.
How can he say there's no evidence?
Well, I told you, he's gonna want to pass his own judgments.
Well, that's bullshit! -Hey, where are you?
I'm going to New Orleans.
No-- Virgin-- Virginia, no, no, no-- -[line disconnects]
Fuck!
Excuse me! Hey! You can't go in there.
How could you do this? How could you say this?
The-- There is so much support for Dr. Pou at this time.
A public declaration o-of homicide would do a lot more than just stir things up.
It would be very bad for our city.
How's it gonna be for the city when people learn you swept the truth under the rug?
Tell me something, Miss Rider.
W-What happens the next time there's a hurricane? Or the time after that?
Because those times will come for certain.
W-What happens when there's no health care workers to fill our hospitals?
No-- No doctors. No nurses.
Because they're too afraid that if they do anything wrong in an emergency,
they're gonna be treated like criminals.
What happens to our city then?
You're telling me that doctors are gonna threaten the people of this city?
That they're gonna walk off the job?
Besides, that is not your job.
I respectfully disagree.
For 31 years, I-- The entirety of my job's been doing what's best for this city.
No, your job, your actual job,
is to make judgments based on scientific fact, based on evidence.
So just do your damn job.
Do what you're supposed to do.
[radio host 1] From a distance, it looks like any other American city,
but to revisit New Orleans now is to realize the scale of the betrayal.
The president promised the biggest rebuilding program in history,
but come to the very poorest neighborhoods,
and there is no evidence of government help whatsoever.
The Ninth Ward, like the other poor, mainly Black areas of this city,
are being left to, quite literally, rot.
And what is also so striking
is there are very few people left here to ask about the future.
[radio host 2] The Lower Ninth Ward lost over 10,000 residents,
leaving just 7% of its previous population.
It's very unfair. I think it's unfair.
I don't know how long I can do this. I might have to pack it up and move away.
[cries]
Whoa. Look at you buying the first round. What--
Thanks for meeting me.
Hey, you all right?
Butch... [stammers]
I can't do this anymore.
I get how there's politics here. I'm not an idiot.
But I don't get how people can stray so far from the facts.
And I'm just... I just can't stomach it anymore.
[stammers] Look, I overreacted. [stammers] We have a damn good case.
No. [scoffs] You were exactly right.
There's way more at play here than just a set of facts,
and I should open my eyes to it.
I should've listened to you, but...
now that I see where this train is going, I've gotta get off of it
for my own sanity. -No, Virginia.
No, I'm not you.
I just...
[sighs] I can't not take this all incredibly personally.
And it's tearing me apart. [breathes shakily]
I've loved every minute of working with you, Butch.
But I'm done.
Can I argue this with you? [chuckles] -[chuckles] Please don't.
It's hard enough.
We made a great team.
[chuckles]
[sniffles]
[horn music playing] -[crowd cheering]
Sir, they're almost ready for you.
Ah. Thank you, dear.
[Frank] Thank y'all for coming out here today.
I wanna clarify my prior statement.
When I said I'd seen no evidence of homicide
thus far in the investigation at Memorial Hospital,
I did not mean that homicide was not
the manner of death of patients at Memorial.
That is still to be determined and will be the subject of further investigation
and a presentation I will make to the special grand jury.
Thank you. -[clamoring]
How can he say one thing and then say something completely different?
I don't know.
[reporter] ...now saying he has not ruled out homicide.
I'm gonna go do some work.
Darling, maybe you should take it easy for just a little bit.
What am I gonna do? Sit around, worrying about some outcome that I can't control?
No, but what about this? How about we take a trip, huh?
Come on. Just the two of us. We could just go down to Florida.
And have someone take a picture of me sitting on some beach vacationing?
Vince, I know your heart is in the right place, but that's not me.
That's-- [stammers] Y-You know me.
I-I have to keep busy. That's how I keep myself sane.
You may be seated.
Good morning. -[jurors] Morning. Morning.
Ladies and gentlemen, you have been selected
as members of the special grand jury for Orleans Parish.
Now, you will hear evidence,
and you will be guided in your decision-making
by the district attorney's office.
This is not a trial.
You will not be hearing impassioned arguments from both sides.
Instead, the district attorney's office will lead you
through information that they have gathered on this particular case.
They and I will provide instruction, and you will indict when warranted.
You will also keep secret all of what goes on in here. Is that understood?
[jurors] Yes. Yes, Your Honor.
[Judge Johnson] Then your service has commenced.
[bangs]
[Simmons] And we won't know anything until they make a decision.
What they do behind closed doors goes on in total secrecy. All of it.
[sighs]
If you asked me to devise the most exquisite torture imaginable,
this would be it.
Yeah.
A trial, no matter the verdict, is gonna completely ruin me, Rick.
What am I gonna do?
[Anna] All right, everyone.
Um, this is Maya.
She's a 49-year-old woman with recurrent pharyngeal carcinoma.
Uh, we're gonna be working here for a while,
so I want all of us to stay focused.
Okay.
We're gonna do all we can for her with God's help.
Amen.
Dr. Pou, you were amazing today. [chuckles]
We did some good work. All of us.
Doc, I just wanted to let you know, I contributed to your defense fund.
Monica. Thank you. -[chuckles]
You're the kind of woman I wanna be. [chuckles]
And I'm praying for you.
Thank you. Yeah, I'm praying for me too. [chuckles]
[door opens]
[Judge Johnson] Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, welcome back.
[Morales] Michael Morales, present on behalf of the State of Louisiana.
The grand jurors have a return on this matter, Your Honor.
In the case of Anna Pou,
you've been asked to consider a ten-count bill of indictment.
One count of second-degree murder
and nine counts of conspiracy to commit second-degree murder.
What say you?
In each of these ten counts it is noted, "Not a true bill of indictment."
Is that correct?
Yes, Your Honor.
Very well then. This matter and your service is concluded.
An update now on a controversial criminal case.
The grand jury in New Orleans will not indict
a surgeon accused of killing four seriously ill hospital patients.
The grand jury have decided not to bring criminal charges against her.
Anna.
They didn't indict you.
Not on any of the charges. -[gasps] Oh, my God.
Oh, my God. Oh, God. Lord, thank you. -What? What? Nothing?
[cries] Oh, Lord, thank you.
Nothing? Oh.
[cries] No.
[reporters clamoring] District Attorney Jordan.
What do you think of the grand jury's decision?
I agree with the grand jury. Thank you. -[reporters clamoring]
Mr. Morales, your comment, please?
[Foti] Please take a copy.
You'll see that forensic experts from all over the country
have concluded that the deaths in question that occurred at Memorial Medical Center,
they were homicides. -[reporters clamoring]
If that's the case, sir, then why didn't the grand jury indict?
Because they didn't hear directly from any of these forensic experts.
[reporter] Why not? -Well, you'll have to ask the DA that.
Do you think it's fair to judge Dr. Pou on the decisions she made
given the incredibly horrific conditions that existed?
I refuse to accept that the conditions
were any excuse for the taking of a human life.
What is the value of a human life?
What conditions can possibly justify the taking of human lives?
These are the questions that this case raises.
So, no. I do not believe in any way, shape or form
that the grand jury reached the right conclusion.
Butch?
Are you okay?
Yeah, yeah, I'm fine.
Hon, I know you don't like to discuss your cases,
but... I'm sorry this one didn't go your way.
[sighs]
Th-That hospital... [breathes deeply] ...it wasn't a damn battlefield
with mortar shells coming in. It was a shelter.
They had food and water and rescue boats. [breathes heavily]
Wouldn't somebody rather risk getting carried downstairs... [stammers]
...or, hell, low-- lowered out a window, rather than not try at all?
Why would you not at least try to get him out?
If you're a doctor, you get to just decide who lives and-- and who dies?
If you feel like giving your patients
huge doses of morphine and Versed cocktail,
that's your call? [chuckles]
And how do you ignore the fact
that-- that-- that other people were evacuating people
at the same time that you were "giving comfort"?
[sniffling]
These poor people.
These poor folks, they had no idea what was happening to them.
[breathes shakily] They had no way of defending themselves.
[breathing shakily]
This re-- This really hurts, Lin. Lin, this re-- this really hurts. [cries]
[Linda] I know.
[exhales deeply] -[knocking]
I wanted to make sure you got this back.
I wish we could've done a better job for you.
[Carrie] Wasn't your fault.
Dr. Pou and all those people with power, they lined up right behind her.
[chuckles] Emmett. [laughs] You know, he was my high school sweetheart.
I met him when I needed a date to the junior prom. [chuckles]
He was the brother of a friend of mine, and I'd seen him sitting on the porch.
So I said to my friend,
"Go ask your brother if he wanna take me to the prom."
[chuckles] And he did.
Emmett.
He used to say to me, "Girl, you gonna be my wife."
And I said, "Boy, you'd be the last person on Earth I'd marry."
Just to throw him off.
He was the most loving, caring man I have ever met.
I wish I could've met him.
There ain't no statute of limitations on murder.
I've been waiting a long time for justice. I can wait a little while longer.
Hey, look at this. It's the Ghost of Christmas Past.
Oh, yeah. Still haunting you. -[chuckles]
Just came by to get the rest of my things.
No one's taken your spot out front, I see.
Yeah, just taking a quiet five.
Well, I guess you were smart to get out when you did, huh?
Doesn't make it any easier to stomach.
Pardon my French, but what the fuck happened in there? [scoffs]
Among other things, they-- they never called Kristy Johnson.
What?
How do you not call the eyewitness to a murder?
And it doesn't look like any
of the outside forensic experts testified, either.
What were they thinking?
That is a profound question. [chuckles]
But the records of the special grand jury are permanently sealed,
so we'll never know.
I can't help but think that we fucked up by just going after Pou.
Uh... [stammers]
...it was a river of evidence that flowed a certain way, and we had to follow it.
Led us right to Pou.
Yeah, to a doctor who was exemplary in every way. Except for when she wasn't.
Hmm.
Onward.
I'm glad I ran into you, Butch.
Me too.
[pats] -You take care of yourself, Virginia.
[Virginia] Bye.
[breathes deeply]
[host] Ladies and gentlemen
it is my privilege tonight
to introduce our guest of honor, Dr. Anna Pou.
[attendees applaud, cheer] -Whoo! Yeah!
Thank you. [chuckles] Thank y'all very much.
Thank you. [chuckles] I'm just gonna make a few very brief remarks.
Um, you know, none of us here in this room
will ever forget what happened during Katrina.
We each have our own stories to tell.
What happened to me inside Memorial Hospital...
is hard to describe.
The heat, the stench, the lack of power,
the chaos as we tried to evacuate the patients.
Then on Wednesday... [sighs] ...the evacuation stopped. They just stopped.
We don't know why. No one told us why.
Then on Thursday,
we were told that everyone must be out of the hospital today.
And after five sleepless days and nights, FEMA called, said,
"We're taking all the airboats at noon,
so whoever you can get out of the hospital, get them out by then,
because they can no longer stay inside."
The Coast Guard sent helicopters,
but they didn't arrive until Thursday afternoon.
I should note something that I didn't know.
Coast Guard helicopters can't fly at night.
We did not get the type of support that we needed to evacuate patients.
Far from it.
We were left on our own
by local, state and federal governments that totally failed us.
We were abandoned.
Now, I'm just a doctor.
You know, the duty to care sounds easy. Sounds great.
But in practice, it is not always so.
I know in my heart that every single one of us in that hospital
did everything we could to comfort and to care.
No one was abandoned. No one was neglected.
And everybody was treated with dignity.
And although my life was changed forever on July 17th, 2006, the day of my arrest,
I do not look upon my circumstances with bitterness,
because God has been really phenomenal.
And he sent me so many people to help me through this. He did.
He sent my friends...
[applauding]
...my family... [chuckles] ...my patients... -[applauding continues]
...nurses, my-- my fellow doctors.
I see so many of you sitting here in this very room.
I wouldn't be here without all of you.
You know, the courage and the strength that you have given me
are truly a gift from God.
So your love and the greatness of God,
that is what got me out of bed every morning.
You know, I consider myself one of the luckiest people in the world
because of your support. And for that, I thank you.
Yeah! -[cheering, applauding]
Thank you very much from the bottom of my heart. Thank you.
Thank you.
[chuckles] Thank you. Thank you.
[dance music playing]
[no audible dialogue]
Hello, Anna. -Horace. [chuckles]
I'm so happy to see you here.
Mm-hmm. H-How's Vince?
He's good. Where is he?
Oh, he-- he's-- he's over there dancing. -Oh, yeah. [chuckles]
Ready to cut loose after this last year.
[chuckles] I can only imagine.
[sighs] It's been surreal, Horace. -Hmm?
It's been surreal. -Mmm.
It's-- That is the only way that I can describe it.
[sighs]
Anna, FEMA didn't take away the airboats.
They were run by volunteers.
And they couldn't have called us to tell us, because our phones weren't working.
And you do know that the Coast Guard helicopters did fly at night.
They used night-vision goggles.
They made rescues throughout.
It wasn't as if the Coast Guard didn't try to save patients.
Horace. They didn't fly at night.
Ask Vince. He's a pilot.
Anna, I was at Memorial too.
Just because you remember things one way, doesn't make them true.
[scoffs] Man.
I wish you well.
["Wade in the Water" playing]