USA TODAY International Edition
Hospital staff is subpoenaed in Louisiana
Investigation targets patients’ deaths during Katrina
NEW ORLEANS — Louisiana of cials have issued subpoenas to 73 staff members of a local hospital to force them to cooperate with a probe into whether critically ill patients were euthanized or mistreated during the chaos after Hurricane Katrina, state Attorney General Charles Foti Jr. said Wednesday.
The subpoenas were issued during the past few days amid growing concern that an undisclosed number of employees at New Orleans’ Memorial Medical Center, including nurses, have refused to speak with state investigators, Foti said in an interviewwith USA TODAY. He said an Oct. 14 memo in which the hospital told employees they could decline to be interviewed might have had “ a chilling effect” by prompting some of them to Foti: Investigating allegations of euthanasia in New Orleans. refuse to answer questions.
“ When ( hospital of cials) claim they didn’t do anything, then what is the problem?” Foti said. He added that Memorial has not responded adequately to requests for documents that investigators made two weeks ago. “ They should not be trying to hide something or stand behind legalese.”
Peter Urbanowicz, general counsel for Tenet Healthcare, Memorial’s parent company, said, “ We are cooperating, and we are surprised by the subpoenas.” He said Tenet has nothing to hide.
Among other things, investigators are examining a Memorial doctor’s claim that some of the 45 patients who died there after Katrina hit on Aug. 29 might have been given lethal doses of painkillers to end their suffering. The doctor, Bryant King, has not responded to requests by USA TODAY for comment. He has told CNN that he heard staff members discuss euthanizing critically ill patients as conditions deteriorated in the hospital. Other Memorial doctors dispute that. John Kokemor told MSNBC on Tuesday, “ At no time did I hear any conversations or witness any . . . mercy killing.”
The probe at Memorial is part of a review of about 215 deaths at hospitals and nursing homes in this area, the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals says. Besides the allegations of possible mercy killings at Memorial, investigators are reviewing whether people at nearly two dozen facilities were abandoned or neglected.
In its memo to Memorial employees, Tenet told them that they could “ consent” or “ decline” to be interviewed by investigators. “ You have the right to decide whether or not you wish to be interviewed,” said the memo, a copy of which was obtained by USA TODAY.
Companies investigated by the government often issue such legal instructions to employees, said Susan Hackett of the Association of Corporate Counsel. She said the practice is drawing increasing scrutiny. “ What may have been seen as routine advice also can be seen as discouraging employees from cooperating,” she said.
Investigators are awaiting results of tests on tissue from people who died at Memorial to determine whether they received overdoses. Orleans Parish Coroner Frank Minyard said Tuesday that all but a few of the samples have been sent to a Pennsylvania lab for testing.
“ We are proceeding as if these allegations are serious,” Foti said. “ If nothing happened, we will be the rst to say so.” Davis reported from New Orleans, Johnson from Washington, D. C.