New Orleans doctor not charged with Katrina deaths

NEW ORLEANS — Closing one of the most sensational chapters in post-Katrina New Orleans, Dr. Anna Pou said she fell to her knees and thanked God when she learned July 24 that a grand jury had refused to charge her with murdering patients in Memorial Medical Center in the days after the hurricane struck. Pou still faces four civil suits in connection with the deaths, but her colleagues cheered the end of the criminal case. So did the Louisiana State Medical Society and the American Medical Association, both of which issued statements saying Pou, who never was charged in the deaths, should not have been arrested.

Pou was among the medical personnel on hand at Memorial Medical Center during and after Katrina. The eight-story, 317-bed facility became an island surrounded by 15 feet of floodwater. Although it was envisioned as a haven, the hospital lost electricity and became sweltering as the temperature inside hit 110 degrees.
Memorial Medical Center has been closed since the storm, and it has a new name. The 81-year-old hospital, known for 67 years as Southern Baptist Hospital, was sold last year to the Ochsner medical empire and was renamed Ochsner Baptist Medical Center.