Dr. Pou Files Suit Against Louisiana Attorney General
July 16, 2007Dr. Anna Pou -- the physician arrested in the deaths of four patients at a
New Orleans hospital after Hurricane Katrina -- filed suit against the
Louisiana Attorney General on Monday, accusing him of using her arrest to
fuel his re-election bid.
The suit, filed in state court in Baton Rouge, also seeks to force the state
to provide a legal defense for Pou against civil lawsuits filed by families
of three of the patients.
Last year, State Attorney General Charles Foti claimed Pou and two nurses
killed four people with a "lethal cocktail" at Memorial Medical Center
during the chaotic conditions after the August 2005 storm. The four were
among at least 34 who died at the sweltering, flooded hospital in the days
following Katrina. Pou, who is free on bond, has not been formally charged.
A New Orleans grand jury is looking into the case.
Foti had Pou arrested, "called an international press conference the next
day to announce the arrest, made extra judicial comments totally contrary to
the Rules of Professional Responsibility, and culminated the week's activity
with an attorney general fundraiser to showcase his `achievements' in the
arrest of Dr. Pou and the two nurses," the suit says.
Foti was not immediately available for comment when telephoned Monday
afternoon.
The lawsuit says that Foti, although he turned the case over to the New
Orleans District Attorney's Office, has an assistant acting as a prosecutor
before the New Orleans grand jury investigating Pou. The lawsuit says that
is a conflict of interest.
"The Attorney General is in a conflict of interest in that he has a vested
interest in the indictment of Dr. Pou to salvage his credibility as a public
official, especially in view of the Louisiana Attorney General election to
be held in the next three months," the suit said.
That conflict of interest is grounds for the defense to quash an indictment,
should one be issued, the suit says.
Pou and nurses, Lori Budo and Cheri Landry, were arrested and booked with
second-degree murder after Foti's office investigated the case. Foti said
the women put desperately ill patients to death using a lethal injection of
drugs, after determining that the patients were either too ill or too
incapacitated to be moved following Katrina.
The cases against Budo and Landry were dropped after they were compelled to
testify before the grand jury last month.
Blame for the Memorial deaths, as well as others following the storm, should
more properly be placed with the state of Louisiana and its agencies,
including the attorney general's office, the suit claims.
Foti, the suit says, failed to carry out his duties to ensure that all state
agencies, including the department of transportation, developed plans to
evacuate the at-risk population as called for in Louisiana's emergency
operation plan.
The state's pre-storm plan was a failure, the suit says, and so were its
post-storm efforts. For days after the hurricane, the state abandoned
patients and medical personnel at Memorial Medical, the suit says.
After the arrests, the results of Foti's investigation were turned over to
the Orleans Parish district attorney.
Pou has not been formally charged and has been free on bond since her arrest
July 17, 2006.
The lawsuit likens Foti's news conference last year about Pou's arrest to
the publicity that surrounded rape charges against members of the Duke
Lacrosse team -- charges that were eventually dropped. Prosecutor Michael
Nifong was disbarred by the North Carolina State Bar for his handling of the
now-discredited case.
