Anna Pou won't be indicted in deaths of Katrina patients

July 24, 2007

New Orleans. LA - A New Orleans grand jury has declined to indict Dr. Anna Pou who was accused of killing patients in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Pou and two nurses -- Cheri Landry and Lori Budo -- were arrested in July of last year after a 10-month investigation into the deaths at New Orleans' Memorial Medical Center. Louisiana Attorney General Charles C. Foti charged the trio with second-degree murder.

The investigation revealed that the four patients -- ages 63, 68, 91 and 93 -- were given a "lethal cocktail" of morphine and midazolam hydrochloride, both central nervous system depressants, Foti said. None of the patients had been prescribed the drugs by their caregivers and none of the accused treated the four before the injections, Foti said.

Pou, Landry and Budo have denied the charges, and their attorneys have said they acted heroically, staying to treat patients rather than evacuate.

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