Reviews

• Sehr interessantes Buch, stellenweise ein bisschen zuuu detailliert und langgezogen. Trotzdem lohnt es sich

• Very well written, heartbreaking

• Simplistically, this is a story of how a hospital full of doctors, family and patients dealt with and sustained through Hurricane Katrina. However, the story that focuses mainly on Dr. Anna Pou is a moral conundrum that is as divisive a subject as I can imagine. Sherri Fink treads through public files, personal testimonies and witness accounts to bring us a wide look at what took place at a New Orleans hospital as chaos ensued and governmental and corporate response languished. This lack of emergency response seems to be caused by a deadly combination of negligence and incompetence by the staff of the hospital and everyone they seemed to reach out to. Consequently, important decisions had to be made under stress , exhaustion and unbearable heat: Who among us gets to leave/receive critical care first? The oldest? The sickest? The ones with the best chance to survive? The ones with best quality of life chance? Triage was set up and days passed by slowly as people's lives hung in the balance. Thus enters Dr. Anna Pou. Fink goes into incredible detail of her background and character and gives us a sympathetic/ hard working, no-nonsense type of doctor who delegates authority amongst the nurses and charges at Memorial. Ultimately, it seems according to the book, that Dr.Pou would make important decisions to euthanize certain patients in what seems like a badly-kept secret that morally divided the staff. This is the central focus of the book and how you feel about Dr. Pou's actions will polarize the reader and have you second-guessing your original feelings. I must say, immediately I felt that euthanasia was completely acceptable. I believe that if somebody is to the point where pain and suffering renders somebody to the point that they are alive in the most basic definition only, I feel it acceptable for them to want to end their life. And, I did indeed feel this way throughout the book about Dr. Pou until you realize that these particular patients never consented. And there in lies the rub: euthanasia should never be put in the hands of the doctor without consent of the patient or family. Furthermore, in the case of Mrs. Burgess and Emmett Everett, not only did they not wish to die, they very much wanted to live. The fact that they were killed on the same day the mass evacuation was taking place only makes it more the tragedy. The second half of the book focuses on gathering evidence , the politics of prosecuting staff that risked their lives and otherwise behaved heroically during a disaster that most , including myself, got to watch from a distance. It's riveting and I think Fink presents every possible ethical possibility on what happened and what COULD have happened. I feel like she was objective and fair and if anything, only really painted LA attorney general in a negative light. It's no doubt controversial and there seems to be two camps: those that think that Dr. Pou is an amazing doctor who appears to have killed (with help of other staff, mind you) patients, even if ending their suffering was paramount in her mind. The other half is those that take Fink's reporting as factual. Perhaps the truth lies somewhere in between , but to those who deride Fink as trying to make a buck by sensationalizing , you have to consider both sides. Dr. Pou obviously has a lot to lose, including her freedom, if these accounts are accurate. She would literally have gotten away with murder. I don't, however, think she meant to kill with malice but rather with compassion. What does make me lose respect for her , though, is her continuing to lie about small details to exaggerate the conditions of the hospital ( lack of water, food, helicopters not being able to fly at night). If there was more of a consensus, or even if there was a moral consensus taken before she made the injections, I'd sleep better. Unfortunately for the victims, it seems like their deaths were carried out clandestinely. Meanwhile, their was an equal conspiracy of disapprovers who did nothing but express outrage over the possible euthanasia amongst themselves while not lifting a finger to stop it. I could go on and on about this with points both for and against all parties involved and not come within a mile of satisfaction. It's an astounding read that will test your preconceived notions of right and wrong and I'm not quite sure I'm qualified to judge anybody during a situation as hellish as this.

• I found this book compelling. As a Registered Nurse practising on the Gulf Coast for forty years I know the system and the terrain and the weather risks. As a Nursing Administrator I had to make decisions about evacuation of patients, transportation and the care of staff during these conditions. I must say I cried and found the situation harrowing. I thank God that I never had to make the ultimate decision these Nurses and Doctors had to contemplate. I have thought long and hard about this and I seriously believe, that in this world of severe weather issues, infectious epidemics and terrorism all over the world, we the healthcare providers must have urgent dialogue about the final triage. Don't leave it to the desperate people left on site to make these decisions. God Bless the patients and staff involved. God help those people at the corporation who failed to act!!

• Excellent book. Amazon is awesome too. 😀

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