JURIST - Paper Chase: Louisiana AG subpoenas 73 hospital employees over Katrina deaths

[JURIST] Louisiana Attorney General Charles Foti [official website] has subpoenaed 73 employees of Memorial Medical Center [hospital website] in New Orleans, as part of its ongoing investigation [JURIST report] into deaths alleged at hospitals and nursing homes in the wake of Hurricane Katrina [JURIST news archive]. The subpoenas covered all levels of employees at the hospital, and a spokeswoman for the attorney general said they were needed to get employees to talk to investigators. At Memorial, 34 patients died after the hospital was cut off by flood waters, and some reports suggested that doctors at the hospital debated euthanizing some patients [CNN report] who were unlikely to survive the flood. Tenet Healthcare [corporate website], which owns Memorial, has said that it told employees that it was up to them whether to talk to investigators. Foti has been investigating at least 140 deaths at New Orleans hospitals and nursing homes, with two nursing home owners being charged with 34 counts of negligent homicide [JURIST report] for deaths that occurred during the flooding. AP has more.

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