Dr. Pou's plight: Heroic actions, harrowing aftermath

The New Orleans case shows the importance of protecting physicians who volunteer in disaster or emergency situations.

Editorial. Aug. 20, 2007.

In the end, justice prevailed for New Orleans otorhinolaryngologist Anna Maria Pou, MD. A grand jury acted correctly, with admirable courage and wisdom, when in July it decided against indicting the physician on charges that she killed nine patients with lethal doses of pain medication in the Hurricane Katrina aftermath.

It's a shame, though, that Dr. Pou had to endure 23 months of uncertainty as the wheels of justice stereotypically ground slowly to this conclusion.

She and two nurses whom Louisiana Attorney General Charles C. Foti Jr. accused of murder stayed behind at Memorial Hospital to care for patients in deplorable, chaotic conditions -- no electricity, 100-degree heat, limited food and water. Fifteen feet of water and poor response in evacuating those trapped in the city kept Dr. Pou, the nurses and patients in the hospital for four days. (The charges against the nurses were dropped earlier, resulting in their being compelled to testify before the grand jury.)

Dr. Pou could have chosen to evacuate the area before the storm hit. She could have chosen to ride out the storm at home with her family. But she didn't. She stayed behind to help those too sick to leave the hospital when Katrina slammed ashore.

Hopefully the national headline-making news of the murder charges levied against Dr. Pou won't dissuade doctors from volunteering in future emergency situations.

A step in preventing that from happening would be reassuring physicians that they will not be unfairly punished for staying behind to do their jobs at a time when most are fleeing for safer ground.