La. Coroner Releases Reports on Post-Katrina Hospital Deaths

By: Newly released reports shed little light on the coroner?s finding that he could not determine the cause of death of nine patients trapped in a New Orleans hospital in the days after Hurricane Katrina.

New Orleans coroner Dr. Frank Minyard released the documents Oct. 22 after Civil Court Chief Judge Nadine Ramsey ruled in favor of The Times-Picayune newspaper, which had sued to obtain the reports.

As long ago as Nov. 1, 2005, Minyard said bodies recovered after Hurricane Katrina were so badly decomposed by the time autopsies were done that they probably would not yield evidence for prosecuting crimes.

Minyard said he considered appealing Ramsey?s ruling, but instead made public the reports, which included toxicology and autopsy reports. On Oct. 22, he declined to comment on the case.

Louisiana Attorney General Charles Foti conducted a criminal investigation into the deaths, leading to the arrests of Dr. Anna Pou and nurses Lori Budo and Cheri Landry, who stayed to work at the flooded Memorial Medical Center after the Aug. 29, 2005, storm.

A grand jury refused to indict Pou on July 24. Landry and Budo testified before the panel under immunity and were not indicted.

Kris Wartelle, a spokeswoman for Foti, said the attorney general was never involved with the lawsuit nor did he seek to block the release of the autopsy results.

?This is something that is between the Times-Picayune and the coroner,? she said Oct. 22. ?We weren?t involved at all.?

Foti had accused Pou and the nurses of killing patients by overdosing them with a sedative-painkiller mix during the days after Katrina, when the hospital had no power and no way to evacuate.

At the time of the arrests, Foti called the trio?s actions murder and accused the doctor and nurses of ?playing God.?

All three women denied the accusations.

After the grand jury refused to indict Pou, Foti, who was critical of the decision, began releasing investigative material. Some legal officials called the action an unusual move aimed at justifying his pursuit of charges against the trio.

Foti was widely criticized for his investigations into patient deaths at the hospital and a St. Bernard Parish nursing home. He lost his bid for re-election on Oct. 20.