Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital (85 page)

 
31
Pou would later say
: Dr. Anna Pou appearance on Garland Robinette’s “Think Tank” show on WWL radio, May 12, 2008.

 
32
set out by John Rawls
: Rawls, John.
A Theory of Justice
(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1971).

 
33
sparked a debate
: The debate was triggered by John M. Taurek’s “Should the Numbers Count?,”
Philosophy and Public Affairs
6, no. 4 (Summer 1977): 293–316.

 
34
“There is no such thing as a sum of suffering”
: Lewis, C. S.
The Problem of Pain
(London: Centenary Press, 1940 and New York: HarperCollins, 2001).

 
35
members of the general public typically favored
: Described in Veatch, “Disaster Preparedness and Triage.”

 
36
On a fifth-floor hallway
: The daughter wished to remain anonymous. Several nurses from the fifth floor confirmed and expanded on her story, and it was also retold in Pitre-Ryals’s “Fair Treatment Process.” The account of James Lafayette is based on his medical records (kindly provided by his family), and the deposition of a son, Samuel, who accompanied his father to the hospital (deposition taken May 15, 2008, for
Preston, et al v. Tenet
), as well as the recollections of several Memorial staff members involved in his care. Emergency medicine doctor Karen Cockerham explained that in general (not specifically in reference to Mr. Lafayette, in an interview in July 2013) the ER staff tried to admit as few patients as possible before the storm and strongly suggested that others who were sick but stable evacuate; Mr. Lafayette and his son, who came by ambulance, did not have the means to do so, and Samuel Lafeyette said in his deposition that a female doctor advised them to wait out the storm in the lobby.

 
37
Now a man
: Nurses in the ICU were also told to leave Wednesday afternoon when they still had a DNR patient.

CHAPTER 6

Interviews

J. T. Alpaugh; Dr. Horace Baltz; Mark LeBlanc; Sandra LeBlanc; Keith Brisbois; Dr. Ewing Cook; Minnie Cook; Marc Creswell; Curtis Dosch; L. René Goux; Cathy Green; Dr. Bob Hendler; Frances Haydel (wife of patient Julius Haydel); Curtis Hebert; Gina Isbell; Dr. Bryant King; Dr. John Kokemor; Karen Lagasse; AST2 Jaason Michael Leahr; Father John Marse; Cynthia Matherne; Dr. Anna Pou; Dr. Paul Primeaux; Sudeep Reddy; Rodney Scott; Karen Wynn.

Notes

  
1
Merle was, until recent months
: The account of Merle Lagasse is based on her medical records (obtained with kind permission of her daughter, Karen), photographs, and the recollections of Karen and medical professionals involved in Merle’s care, mentioned in the text.

  
2
company logo
: Danna, Denise and Sandra E. Cordray.
Nursing in the Storm
(New York: Springer Publishing Company, 2010), p. 128.

  
3
A Coast Guard lieutenant reached Susan Mulderick
: Mulderick’s June 7, 2008, deposition in
Preston, et al v. Tenet
. Acadian’s Keith Brisbois recalled in an interview with the author in 2013 having arranged for one more flight to take two remaining critical patients that morning, but he said the priorities had shifted once all critical patients seemed to have been moved from Memorial. Aerial footage taken by Helinet shows a green Air Med (division of Acadian) helicopter on the helipad at what appears from the sunlight and shadow patterns to be roughly midday (can be screened on
www.abcnewsvsource.com
, reference no.: VSKATRINA0007, time stamp 7:28 a.m. is clearly incorrect based on sun position; additional screening copy kindly provided by J. T. Alpaugh of Helinet). Alpaugh speculates on the video: “It appears this hospital may still be in operation and running, running somewhat normally.” The video shows cars in the parking lot across the street from Memorial covered to their tops with water and other details described in this section.

  
4
the president’s peregrination of grounding rescue flights
: Several sources were convinced this was the case, however the author was unable to confirm this upon reviewing copies of temporary flight restrictions (notices to airmen: NOTAM) provided by the Federal Aviation Administration in response to a FOIA request. In an interview with the author in 2011, Marc Creswell, at the time a field training officer for Acadian who helped coordinate the Katrina air medical response, said that he recalled the airspace was closed: “For medical aircraft, it’s thirty minutes prior to and then the entire amount of time the president is in the area and then just a few minutes after he leaves.” In fact, in interviewing some sources many years after the events, there may have been confusion between President Bush’s overflight on Wednesday and his visit to Louisiana on Friday, September 2, when air traffic was reportedly stopped while he was in the area (see, for example, Krupa, Michelle. “Bush Visit Halts Food Delivery,”
Times-Picayune
, September 3, 2005;
http://www.nola.com/katrina/index.ssf/2005/09/bush_visit_halts_food_delivery.html
).

  
5
Green vines spilled
: Description based on photographs from the time.

  
6
A World War II veteran
: Julius Haydel.

  
7
pregnant ICU nurses
: This set of events based on interviews with Karen Wynn and accounts of the ICU nurses (with pseudonyms) in Budo,
Katrina
.

  
8
After Rolfie’s death
: Horace Baltz.
The Kat’s Paw
:
Memorial Medical Center—Katrina
(unpublished manuscript) and interviews with Dr. Baltz and Dr. Ewing Cook and Minnie Cook.

  
9
At around two p.m
.: The nurse taking care of Ms. Burgess noted in her chart Dr. Cook’s presence at 2:15 p.m.

 
10
until they drained their batteries
: The nursing notes in Ms. Burgess’s chart discuss the effects of the power failure on her care.

 
11
Sometimes ten to fifteen seconds
: This was noted by Ms. Burgess’s nurse at around eight that morning.

 
12
“She has lung cancer …”
: Cathy Green did not know her name, but it is possible she was Merle Lagasse. The Memorial patient census (which did not include LifeCare patients) shows only one other patient whose admitting diagnosis was lung cancer (there was also a mesothelioma patient, but she apparently died on the second floor); she was eventually airlifted from Memorial and was only fifty years old, so it is doubtful that Green would have thought her “elderly.” Green shared this story with the author in an interview in 2007, and she recounted part of it (under the pseudonym “Kate”) in Budo, Lori.
Katrina Through Our Eyes
:
Stories from Inside Baptist Hospital
(Lexington, KY: CreateSpace, 2010), pp. 115–116.

 
13
said she was a Holocaust survivor
: Budo,
Katrina
. Other nurses had a vague memory of this.

 
14
danger in the coming darkness
: It would have been quite dark outside regardless of the weather. The new moon was September 3, according to NASA moon phase chart;
http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/phase/phases2001.html
.

 
15
jotted “Katrina”
: Copy of document entitled “MHCNO: Disaster Preparedness Committee,” Friday, August 26, 2005, 12–2 p.m.

 
16
“Which patients should be extracted”
: Copy of page entitled “Subcommittee: Region 1—Affected Area,” part of document entitled “Louisiana Catastrophic Planning, 2005 Workshop,” dated August 23–24, 2005. The planning was focused on the idea of setting up temporary medical staging points outside of the hurricane-affected areas where patients collected at the SARBOOs (like the I-10 cloverleaf) would be transferred for care.

 
17
“to save life and limb”
: Copy of “Concept Paper,” part of “Louisiana Catastrophic Planning, 2005 Workshop.”

 
18
setting their own priorities
: Capt. Bruce Jones, USCG commanding officer, Air Station New Orleans, interviewed by PA3 Susan Blake, Katrina Archival and Historical Record Team, October 20, 2005, for an oral history program;
http://www.uscg.mil/history/katrina/oralhistories/JonesBruceoralhistory.asp
. Other records in the Katrina oral history collection make a similar point, as did Coast Guard members interviewed by the author.

 
19
still setting up the command center
: They did this Wednesday morning, according to depositions of Michael Arvin, August 26, 2010, and Bob Smith, April 14, 2008, in
Preston, et al v. Tenet
. Also Bob Smith e-mail to Sandra Cordray, Tuesday, August 30, 2005, at 5:55 p.m.: “We may have a command center set up by morning.”

 
20
jotted down notes
: Bob Smith, April 14, 2008, deposition exhibit in
Preston, et al v. Tenet
.

 
21
air logistics company
: Aviation Services, Inc., in Frisco, Texas.

 
22
in her four months on the job
: US Senate.
A Nation Unprepared
, p. 423.

 
23
LifeCare’s corporate chief financial officer
: E-mail from Jim Shelton to Robbye Dubois, Wednesday, August 31, 2005, at 1:45 p.m. These paragraphs summarize events described in e-mails sent throughout the day by LifeCare officials.

 
24
HF radio
: Smith wrote in an e-mail to colleagues at 9:30 p.m. local time that he had “just established HF communication with Memorial.” It is unclear what kind of system was used to establish this link. The Hospital Emergency Area Radio (HEAR) Network System that was supposed to be operating in New Orleans “simply did not work,” according to the US Congress’s February 2006 report,
A Failure of Initiative
, p. 291.

CHAPTER 7

Interviews

Aster Abraham (daughter of Tesfalidet Ewale); Dr. Bill Armington; Dr. Horace Baltz; Kamel Boughrara; Fran Butler; Joanne Cardaro; Catherine Chatelain; Dr. Karen Cockerham; Dr. Ewing Cook; Minnie Cook; Rosemary Pizzuto Cotham (mother of Donna Cotham); Julie Couvillon; Dr. Richard Deichmann; Curtis Dosch; John Ferrero; L. René Goux; Andre Gremillion; Gina Isbell; Charles Jarreau; Janice Jenkins; Dr. Faith Joubert; Dr. Bryant King; Dr. John Kokemor; Karen Lagasse; Wayne Leche; Father John Marse; Angela McManus; Therese Mendez; Alfred Lee Moses; Kathryn Nelson; Dr. Anna Pou; Dr. Paul Primeaux; Sudeep Reddy; Karen Sanford; Rodney Scott; Dr. John Thiele; Dr. John Walsh; Capt. Mark Willow; Stella Wright; Karen Wynn; Eric Yancovich.

Notes

  
1
tried to inscribe her
: Angela McManus, interviews with author (2007, 2013); Therese Mendez, interviews with author (2013) and state investigators (2005). Angela McManus also recalled helping affix family phone numbers to other patients. The messages were found during Wilda McManus’s autopsy.