It appears that one of the nursing homes in LA refused to move their patients and the patients died as a result. Now the owners have been charged with murder of 34 elderly patients.
According to CTV.a :
Two owners of a nursing home in flood-ravaged St. Bernard Parish, La. were charged with 34 counts of negligent homicide Tuesday.
The charges stem from the deaths of elderly patients at St. Rita's nursing home in Chalmette, located just southeast of New Orleans.
The patients drowned in the flooding after hurricane Katrina struck on Aug. 29.
"The pathetic thing in this case was that they were asked if they wanted to move them and they did not,'' Louisiana Attorney General Charles Foti said.
"They were warned repeatedly that this storm was coming. In effect, their inaction resulted in the deaths of these people.''
I am glad to see this action. How many more nursing home and hospital administrators did the same thing? Every one of them should be charged with a crime! Each of those patients were placed in their care and part of that care is making sure they are moved out of harm's way when a disaster comes. Medical ethics dictate that. Unlike a fire or tornado, cities usually have several days warning of an approaching hurricane. The inaction of the nursing home owners is deplorable.
I am interested in knowing where the owners were when the hurricane hit and these poor innocent people that had been entrusted into their care were forced to ride out the hurricane and subsequently drowned in the ensuing flood.
When I went to bed a five hours ago, all I had was this article. Now as I wake up, the radio is reporting that at least one of the owners is denying the charges that they had been warned. Hmm, let's see, everyone was warned that a category 5 hurricane was on the way and that there was a mandatory evacuation of all residents of the area. Further, it is the practice of police and other rescue workers to make sure nursing homes are notified directly.
Article comments
1 - Nancy
Seems to me this should be a helluva lot more than 'negligant homicide', but as Dickens said, "the law is an ass".
2 - The Fifth Dentist
The lawyer for the nursing home operators gave a very convincing and spirited defense to Paula Zahn. The tape is on CNN.com. After watching it, I'm not so sure whether this isn't a bum rap.
3 - DrPat
Nancy, Dickens actually had his character, Mr. Bumble, say "the law is a ass -- a idiot."
(From The Scotsman