September 19, 2007

Judge says Memorial records should be public

Posted by Capital Bureau, September 19, 2007 6:13 PM
By Bill Barrow
Capital Bureau

BATON ROUGE -- A state judge ruled Wednesday that the public should see records the attorney general's office generated in its probe of deaths at Memorial Medical Center after Hurricane Katrina.

But 19th Judicial District Judge Donald Johnson did not grant public access to all records related to the case, and he delayed his ruling for 30 days, allowing for inevitable appeals to the 1st Circuit Court of Appeal and eventually the Louisiana Supreme Court.

The Times-Picayune and CNN sought the records behind one of the most controversial stories of post-flood Katrina: Attorney General Charles Foti's arrest of Dr. Anna Pou and two nurses accused of killing patients with lethal combinations of morphine and Versed.

None of the three ever stood trial. Orleans Parish District Attorney Eddie Jordan dropped charges against the nurses in exchange for their testimony before a grand jury that eventually declined to indict Pou.

Despite the certain appeal, the ruling Wednesday represents an early victory for Foti, who is trying to defend his handling of the matter as he seeks another term.

Lori Mince, attorney for the media in the records case, also called Johnson's ruling a win for advocates of open government.

"Today's ruling is a victory for the public who deserve to understand what happened at Memorial that caused 34 deaths and why the attorney general spent our money to investigate it," Mince said.

Attorneys for Pou, nurses Lori Budo and Cheri Landry, and scores of other Memorial employees who had been interviewed during the investigation sought to block the release of the records.

They were joined by attorneys for Tenet Health Corp. and LifeCare Hospitals, the medical holding companies involved with Memorial at the time of deaths.

Efforts to reach Foti late Wednesday afternoon were not successful. Attorneys for Memorial employees did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The New Orleans Times-Picayune

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