Disclaimer: Because of personal ties with one of the "suspects" this post may contain some bias. Also, due to my rage that incident is being handled how it is, I'll refrain from a Podcast because I think the many expletives you'll read will more than cover your daily allotted dosage of "fuck."
In case you haven't heard, three people — a doctor and two nurses — were arrested Monday night in connection with possible euthanasia taking place at Memorial Hospital in New Orleans immediately following Hurricane Katrina.
If you need more information, read this article
Here's the problem: Foti's guys arrested these women in the middle of the night last night and busted in their homes like they were hardened criminals and took them from their families. Women that, if requested, would've cooperated and gone in for questioning without having to be arrested.
Secondly, how many of the prosecutors were in that hospital that week? How many of them braved the 100+ degree heat, rising water, decreasing food and water supply, lack of electricity and dying patients and those screaming in agony for it to end or for help they couldn't provide? The one guy who says this happened, one Dr. King, bailed out early and didn't stay through it all. He also says he "heard" discussion of putting people out of their misery but didn't witness ANY wrongdoings, according to EVERY article I've read.
So, all we have is hearsay.
But we also have a question of ethics, assuming this actually happened the way Foti claims it did. Foti claims these three decided to kill these patients to speed up their own evacuation. Which, if true, sounds criminal to me.
How many of these patients asked to die?
How many were close to dying and would've suffered until losing all life left?
Considering ONLY 45 patients died in a hospital with a 300+ bed capacity, I'd say everyone in that hospital did what they could to make everyone survive as long as possible considering the dwindling resources, like food, water, and medicine.
WWL had a quote from Dr. Steven Miles, a professor of medicine at the University of Minnesota's bioethics center. Here's what they have from him:
[… I]nstead of trying to kill, it is more likely that those charged were trying to relieve patients' pain "in a resource-poor environment and were doing the best they could.”
He said that there are documented cases where patients have required seemingly lethal morphine doses to relieve extreme pain, and that he doubts the charges will be proven.
“I'm inclined to believe this was palliative sedation that's been misread," Miles said.
Mercy killings would be "not only highly frowned upon, but also rare," Miles said. "It's highly unlikely that's what happened here."
I think I'd like to look at his theory as a good place to start. And until the toxicology reports from the tissue samples from the alleged victims return, there's no real telling.
In fact, their is NO real telling. I know one of the nurses personally and I don't even know. Her family doesn't even know what really happened that week.
If they had like, eight hours after the storm passed, started administering drugs to patients to euthanize them, I'd say there's a possibility. This all took place a minimum of four days after the storm when the medical personnel wasn't even sure if they were going to survive. They had no outside communication. No one knew.
According to an ABC26 poll 75.6% of voters disagree with the arrests and only 24.4% do.
And on NOLA.com every single forum post is on their side and bashes Foti for the fucktard he is. I agree with one of the posts I linked to: if he's going to pursue this, is he going to pursue the rapists and murderers at the Convention Center? What about the looters and other true thieves? If not, then, why? Why, Mr. Foti, is one crime lesser than another in your book?
