Doctor, nurses arrested in Katrina deaths

Louisiana's attorney general has accused the three of second-degree murder.

By Kevin B. O'Reilly, AMNews staff. Aug. 7, 2006.

A physician and two nurses who worked through the chaos of Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath in New Orleans were arrested last month and accused of second-degree murder in the deaths of four hospital patients.

Louisiana Attorney General Charles C. Foti Jr. accused Anna Maria Pou, MD, an associate professor of otolaryngology at the Louisiana State University School of Medicine, and two nurses, Lori Budo and Cheri Landry, of intentionally administering lethal doses of morphine and the anxiolytic midazolam, the latter marketed as Versed, to four Lifecare Hospitals patients on Sept. 1, 2005. Lifecare is a long-term acute-care unit that leased space from Memorial Medical Center.

Toxicology reports showed apparently lethal amounts of the drugs in the patients' bodies, according to an affidavit accompanying the arrest warrants. The physician allegedly told an unidentified Lifecare nurse executive that "a decision had been made to administer lethal doses" to patients too sick to be moved to the hospital's roof for evacuation by helicopter, according to the affidavit.

"This is a homicide. It is not euthanasia," Foti said during a news conference, according to The Times-Picayune.

The investigation is ongoing and may result in more arrests, according to Kris Wartelle, a spokeswoman for the attorney general's office.

Dr. Pou, Budo and Landry were released on their own recognizance and at press time were in legal limbo because no formal charges were filed. The evidence gathered during the 11-month investigation was turned over to Orleans Parish District Attorney Eddie Jordan, who will present the case to a grand jury and may adjust charges as he sees fit. The DA's office refused to comment on the case.