Five Days at Memorial (2022): Season 1, Episode 8 - Episode #1.8 - full transcript
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.
We need to seriously lower our head count,
and I think that you should evacuate
with the next group.
Evacuate?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
There's like... There's still six or seven
of them lurking around out there.
- You're kidding me.
- This is surreal.
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.
- Mine's off. They found yours?
- Hmm.
- Hello.
- Vince, it's Dan Nuss. How are you doing?
Hey, Dan. Uh,
we-we're doing the best we can, honestly.
Listen, I-I'm trying to reach Anna.
Yeah. 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.
What do you know about him?
Well, I'm not sure where
Eddie Jordan's heart and mind is on this.
Great.
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.
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.
Doesn't get much better than that.
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.
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.
- Neither of which was prescribed.
- Now, looking at these results,
my analysis, Michael,
let me know if you concur, is homicide.
I concur.
Rose Savoie.
Both drugs present,
no medical need indicated. Homicide.
- Agreed.
- Wilda McManus.
Homicide.
Emmett Everett.
This patient was apparently
aware, conscious and alert.
With neither drug prescribed.
- Homicide.
- I concur.
Sorry I'm late.
- 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.
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?
Any death in this city
merits our full attention.
But I would not call these
typical homicides.
Look…
…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?
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.
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… …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.
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?
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.
- You believe this was murder?
Yes. I think it was murder.
Reporting from New Orleans…
Family members are
giving interviews and filing lawsuits.
It's, uh, creating a narrative for us
that's less than ideal.
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.
All right, guys.
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.
- I have given everything I have…
- Yeah.
…within me to take care of my patients.
Were people dying?
Yes, people were dying.
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.
- 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?
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.
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.
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?
- Not a chance.
- Okay.
Baden and Wecht
confirmed in writing
what they told in Minyard's office.
"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.
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.
What is gonna be enough for you, Butch?
This isn't about me.
What?
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?"
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.
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.
Will do.
Congratulations, Anna. You were fantastic.
That could not have gone better.
- 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.
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.
Well, you know,
I was one of 11 kids.
So, maybe I ran past you or... or
threw up on you, or something.
That could've happened.
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…
…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. Thank you.
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...
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...
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.
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.
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.
Whoa. Look at you
buying the first round. What...
Thanks for meeting me.
Hey, you all right?
Butch…
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.
- Look, I overreacted.
- We have a damn good case.
No. 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…
I can't not
take this all incredibly personally.
And it's tearing me apart.
I've loved every minute
of working with you, Butch.
But I'm done.
- Can I argue this with you?
- Please don't.
It's hard enough.
We made a great team.
Sir, they're almost ready for you.
Ah. Thank you, dear.
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.
How can he say one thing and then
say something completely different?
I don't know.
…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... Y-You know me.
I-I have to keep busy.
That's how I keep myself sane.
You may be seated.
- Good morning.
- 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?
Yes. Yes, Your Honor.
Then your service has commenced.
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.
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?
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.
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.
You're the kind of woman I wanna be.
And I'm praying for you.
Thank you. Yeah,
I'm praying for me too.
Ladies and gentlemen
of the jury, welcome back.
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.
- Oh, my God.
- Oh, my God. Oh, God. Lord, thank you.
- What? What? Nothing?
Oh, Lord, thank you.
Nothing? Oh.
No.
District Attorney Jordan.
What do you think
of the grand jury's decision?
I agree with the grand jury. Thank you.
Mr. Morales, your comment, please?
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.
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.
- 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.
Th-That hospital…
…it wasn't a damn battlefield
with mortar shells coming in.
It was a shelter.
They had food and water and rescue boats.
Wouldn't somebody rather risk
getting carried downstairs…
…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?
And how do you ignore the fact
that... that... that other people
were evacuating people
at the same time
that you were "giving comfort"?
These poor people.
These poor folks, they had no idea
what was happening to them.
They had
no way of defending themselves.
- This re... This really hurts, Lin.
- Lin, this re... this really hurts.
I know.
I wanted to make sure you got this back.
I wish we could've done
a better job for you.
Wasn't your fault.
Dr. Pou and all those people with power,
they lined up right behind her.
Emmett. You know,
he was my high school sweetheart.
I met him when I needed a date
to the junior prom.
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."
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.
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?
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.
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…
…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.
You take care of yourself, Virginia.
Bye.
Ladies and gentlemen
it is my privilege tonight
to introduce our guest of honor,
Dr. Anna Pou.
Whoo! Yeah!
Thank you.
Thank y'all very much.
Thank you. 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… …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.
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…
…my family… …my patients…
…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!
Thank you very much
from the bottom of my heart. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you.
- Hello, Anna.
- Horace.
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.
Ready to cut loose after this last year.
I can only imagine.
- It's been surreal, Horace.
- Hmm?
- It's been surreal.
- Mmm.
It's... That is the only way
that I can describe it.
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.
Man.
I wish you well.
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.
We need to seriously lower our head count,
and I think that you should evacuate
with the next group.
Evacuate?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
There's like... There's still six or seven
of them lurking around out there.
- You're kidding me.
- This is surreal.
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.
- Mine's off. They found yours?
- Hmm.
- Hello.
- Vince, it's Dan Nuss. How are you doing?
Hey, Dan. Uh,
we-we're doing the best we can, honestly.
Listen, I-I'm trying to reach Anna.
Yeah. 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.
What do you know about him?
Well, I'm not sure where
Eddie Jordan's heart and mind is on this.
Great.
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.
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.
Doesn't get much better than that.
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.
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.
- Neither of which was prescribed.
- Now, looking at these results,
my analysis, Michael,
let me know if you concur, is homicide.
I concur.
Rose Savoie.
Both drugs present,
no medical need indicated. Homicide.
- Agreed.
- Wilda McManus.
Homicide.
Emmett Everett.
This patient was apparently
aware, conscious and alert.
With neither drug prescribed.
- Homicide.
- I concur.
Sorry I'm late.
- 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.
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?
Any death in this city
merits our full attention.
But I would not call these
typical homicides.
Look…
…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?
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.
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… …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.
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?
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.
- You believe this was murder?
Yes. I think it was murder.
Reporting from New Orleans…
Family members are
giving interviews and filing lawsuits.
It's, uh, creating a narrative for us
that's less than ideal.
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.
All right, guys.
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.
- I have given everything I have…
- Yeah.
…within me to take care of my patients.
Were people dying?
Yes, people were dying.
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.
- 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?
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.
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.
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?
- Not a chance.
- Okay.
Baden and Wecht
confirmed in writing
what they told in Minyard's office.
"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.
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.
What is gonna be enough for you, Butch?
This isn't about me.
What?
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?"
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.
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.
Will do.
Congratulations, Anna. You were fantastic.
That could not have gone better.
- 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.
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.
Well, you know,
I was one of 11 kids.
So, maybe I ran past you or... or
threw up on you, or something.
That could've happened.
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…
…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. Thank you.
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...
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...
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.
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.
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.
Whoa. Look at you
buying the first round. What...
Thanks for meeting me.
Hey, you all right?
Butch…
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.
- Look, I overreacted.
- We have a damn good case.
No. 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…
I can't not
take this all incredibly personally.
And it's tearing me apart.
I've loved every minute
of working with you, Butch.
But I'm done.
- Can I argue this with you?
- Please don't.
It's hard enough.
We made a great team.
Sir, they're almost ready for you.
Ah. Thank you, dear.
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.
How can he say one thing and then
say something completely different?
I don't know.
…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... Y-You know me.
I-I have to keep busy.
That's how I keep myself sane.
You may be seated.
- Good morning.
- 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?
Yes. Yes, Your Honor.
Then your service has commenced.
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.
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?
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.
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.
You're the kind of woman I wanna be.
And I'm praying for you.
Thank you. Yeah,
I'm praying for me too.
Ladies and gentlemen
of the jury, welcome back.
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.
- Oh, my God.
- Oh, my God. Oh, God. Lord, thank you.
- What? What? Nothing?
Oh, Lord, thank you.
Nothing? Oh.
No.
District Attorney Jordan.
What do you think
of the grand jury's decision?
I agree with the grand jury. Thank you.
Mr. Morales, your comment, please?
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.
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.
- 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.
Th-That hospital…
…it wasn't a damn battlefield
with mortar shells coming in.
It was a shelter.
They had food and water and rescue boats.
Wouldn't somebody rather risk
getting carried downstairs…
…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?
And how do you ignore the fact
that... that... that other people
were evacuating people
at the same time
that you were "giving comfort"?
These poor people.
These poor folks, they had no idea
what was happening to them.
They had
no way of defending themselves.
- This re... This really hurts, Lin.
- Lin, this re... this really hurts.
I know.
I wanted to make sure you got this back.
I wish we could've done
a better job for you.
Wasn't your fault.
Dr. Pou and all those people with power,
they lined up right behind her.
Emmett. You know,
he was my high school sweetheart.
I met him when I needed a date
to the junior prom.
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."
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.
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?
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.
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…
…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.
You take care of yourself, Virginia.
Bye.
Ladies and gentlemen
it is my privilege tonight
to introduce our guest of honor,
Dr. Anna Pou.
Whoo! Yeah!
Thank you.
Thank y'all very much.
Thank you. 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… …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.
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…
…my family… …my patients…
…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!
Thank you very much
from the bottom of my heart. Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you.
- Hello, Anna.
- Horace.
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.
Ready to cut loose after this last year.
I can only imagine.
- It's been surreal, Horace.
- Hmm?
- It's been surreal.
- Mmm.
It's... That is the only way
that I can describe it.
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.
Man.
I wish you well.