Sheri Fink: Five Days at Memorial

131 “It just goes under a different name” : Interview with Karen Wynn (December 7, 2008).

132 published the first issue : Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness .

133 a minority of American physicians : The AMA did not respond to a request for current membership statistics. Authors have suggested that in recent years, only around 15 percent of practicing US physicians were members. See, for example, Roger Collier, “American Medical Association Membership Woes Continue,” CMAJ , 183, 11, E713–E714, August 9, 2011; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3153537/.

134 Rick Simmons appeared : Transcript of remarks, provided by Richard Simmons. See also, Sorrel, Amy Lynn, “AMA Meeting: Doctors Who Give Disaster Aid Seek Liability Shield,” American Medical News (July 16, 2007).

135 delegates voted to create : D-435.976 “Protection From Liability Arising from Care Rendered to Patients During Officially Declared Disasters”; http://www.ama-assn.org/resources/doc/PolicyFinder/policyfiles/DIR/D-435.976.HTM.

136 Minyard liked […] later describe it : This section is based on roughly a dozen interviews conducted with Dr. Minyard (2007–2010) and interviews with the forensic colleagues to whom he turned for advice on his findings. Minyard at one point told the author that he decided that four of the nine deaths the grand jury was considering were homicides, and his statement was included in “Deadly Choices” in 2009. However, copies of drafts of a letter to district attorney Jordan, dated June and July of 2007 and prepared on behalf of attorney general Foti, state that “Dr. Minyard still maintains that homicide is the manner of death only in connection with the deaths of two patients, Emmett Everett and Rose Savoie. To date, his determination of the manner of death of the other seven patients who died on the 7th floor on 9/1/05 remain ‘undetermined.’” It is unclear if Minyard had already testified before the grand jury at the point the letter was written, or if he did so later and changed two of the “undetermined” cases to “homicide.” In interviews, Dr. Minyard resisted describing exactly what he told the grand jury, claiming that it was secret. However, Minyard had a duty as coroner to classify the deaths as part of autopsy reports, which are considered public records under Louisiana law. When other members of the media sought the autopsy reports of the Katrina dead, Minyard, essentially setting his own law, at first refused to release them. The Times-Picayune and, separately, reporter A. C. Thompson, successfully sued to obtain them. However, the copies Minyard provided left empty spaces next to “classification of death” (see, for example, Maggi, Laura, “Autopsy Reports Aren’t Complete: Deaths at Memorial Weren’t Classified,” Times-Picayune , October 23, 2007). Likewise, family members of the Memorial and LifeCare deceased are entitled to death certificates. Those who have requested them in recent years have found them similarly incomplete, in some cases still marked “pending investigation.” Rose Savoie’s grandson, Doug, repeatedly requested a copy of her death certificate on behalf of his family. He was told in 2010—five years after Katrina—that the coroner hadn’t finished it. Savoie sent letters to the coroner asking that this be done, but it was not. He requested help from the International Association of Coroners and Medical Examiners. But the latest copy of the certificate sent to the Savoie family, in 2010, notes nothing at all in terms of the cause of his grandmother’s death and is stamped “under investigation.” As of August 2013, the Savoie family still had not received a completed death certificate.

137 forensic all-stars : Wecht and Kaufmann, A Question of Murder , p. 286.

138 to support her : Dr. John Thiele died at his home on December 31, 2010. For years during the course of his treatment for metastatic cancer, he continued to practice medicine, making patient rounds even while wearing his chemotherapy pack.

139 social columnist : Nolan, Nell, “Common Concerns Celebrated,” Times-Picayune , July 24, 2007.

140 published an op-ed : Foti, Charles, “Katrina Was No Excuse: No Circumstances Can Justify the Taking of Innocent Human Lives,” USA Today , July 27, 2007, 10A; http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20070727/oppose27.art.htm.

141 popular national lecturer : See for example, Conde, Crystal, “Ethics in Crisis Care: Dr. Anna Pou Addresses Texas Medical Association’s 2012 General Session,” Louisiana Medical News (July 31, 2012; first published in Texas Medicine ); http://www.louisianamedicalnews.com/ethics-in-crisis-care-dr-anna-pou-addresses-texas-medical-association-s-2012-general-session-cms-2120. “I felt like I was on the Titanic,” she told the Texas Medical Association in 2012, where she received a standing ovation. She has referred to what happened at Memorial and her subsequent arrest as a “personal tragedy.” In arrangements with meeting organizers, Pou has often prevented journalists from attending her lectures about Katrina. FEMA called us : Anna Pou, “Legal and Ethical Considerations in Crisis Care,” lecture at the California Hospital Association’s Disaster Planning for California Hospitals Conference, September 23, 2010, Sacramento, California.

142 The obvious effect : Richard Simmons, letter to author, August 9, 2009.

143 state of Louisiana paid : Morris, Tim, “Senate Approves Payment for Dr. Anna Pou’s Legal Bills,” Times Picayune , June 16, 2009; http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2009/06/senate_approves_payment_for_dr.html.

144 The Memorial class action suit was settled : Interviews over the course of the litigation with several of the attorneys representing the class, including: Joseph Bruno, Mark P. Glago, Anthony Irpino, Todd R. Slack, and Roderick “Rico” Alvendia. Information was also provided by Rick Black (then-) director of communications for Tenet Healthcare. See also Fink, Sheri, “Trial to Open in Lawsuit Connected to Hospital Deaths After Katrina,” ProPublica and the New York Times , March 20, 2011; http://www.propublica.org/article/trial-to-open-in-lawsuit-connected-to-hospital-deaths-after-katrina/; Fink, Sheri, “Lawsuit Against New Orleans Hospital Settles Shortly After Trial Begins,” ProPublica, March 23, 2011; http://www.propublica.org/article/lawsuit-against-new-orleans-hospital-settles-shortly-after-trial-begins; Fink, Sheri, “Class-Action Suit Filed After Katrina Hospital Deaths Settled for $25 Million,” ProPublica, July 21, 2011; http://www.propublica.org/article/class-action-suit-filed-after-katrina-hospital-deaths-settled-for-25-millio.

145 According to the guidelines : “Special Master’s Report and Recommendation on Allocation Model,” Preston, et al v. Tenet , September 19, 2012. Some family members of deceased patients were dissatisfied with their settlements both in the class action and in individual suits (for families that opted out of the class action) against Memorial, particularly after the lengthy legal battles they endured. In the Preston, et al v. Tenet case, families of patients who died received $167,229.73, to be divided among all survivors (some who died had a large number of children). Karen Lagasse’s suit on behalf of her mother, Merle, settled for $270,000 (prior to the reduction of 33?% attorney fees), according to a copy of the settlement check filed by a Tenet attorney in the court record. The settlement, achieved through mediation, left Lagasse angry, because she felt justice was not done and the amount was not enough to force the hospital or the involved physicians to change their practices in the future. “The whole fact doctors would decide who’s worthy to live, who’s not, who’s going to be evacuated and who’s not going to be evacuated, who’s going to be left and who’s going to take them out—what kind of morality is that?” she asked in January 2013. “I feel like I’m the little voice saying, ‘Don’t you realize it could be your wife? Don’t you realize it could be your child?’ They got away with it; it’s not going to stop.”