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I agree with Charles. You've got a hospital filled with sick people. No electricity to run respiratory machines, IV's running antibiotics through lines, air conditioning- everything- computers to disseminate information, etc... No help in sight, I may not have actually done the deed, but I would have surely thought about doing it. Easy for those in the government to go after those nurses and doctors instead of blaming themselves for the crime against humanity that they committed by not providing emergent care to hospital victims, on top of everyone else who they didn't save or help in a timely fashion and then to lie about it on television while news reporters stood by incredulously with the masses and had to listen to these guys' shit.... well.

Now, if only Dr. Kevorkian had been around.... fertile pickin's for that old coot. Jeeez, he would have been in Heaven. : )
"Have Cyanide, Will Travel. You've Got the Need, I'll Do the Deed".

(Sorry, Charles, I couldn't resist. .. : )

When that Cat 3 or 4 Hurricane Hits Eastern Massachusetts this Season and the power goes out for a week or so I hope you have plenty of Board Games and Playing Cards to make the wait for your "Government Rescue" more bearable:-)

Okay, here's the thing. There may have been no outside electricity but when I worked at the New England Rehab Hospital, they have backup generators for essential patient equipment. Like respirators and dialysis and such. I'm sure that the hospital had these items but I am not sure that they planned on the length of time needed for them. Killing this people is just plain murder. Hospitals plan for this stuff. We had a plan for it and had practices for it as well. It was called a Code Green. This justification for murder is a lame excuse. I would love to see their plan for outside emergencies and study it. It sounds to me like they couldn't have been bothered with dealing with those patients. They should be charged with murder and put in JAIL!

Heidi,
Perhaps another perspective..
The hospitals in the Katrina incident were owned by TENET, a for-profit corporation. TENET's hospitals are generally poorly constructed and maintained, hence the failure of critical systems (electricity,water,etc.) during/after Katrina. TENET is selling these hospitals because of the above described incident. The life-suport infrastructure at MOST New England Hospitals is far superior to TENET, HCA and other for-profit hospitals. facilities. The bottom line is that the poor people in those facilities NEVER HAD A CHANCE. I feel compassion for the families of the patients, physicians and nurses as it had to the most difficult decision they have ever made.

The bottom line is that when you try and make a profit in healthcare, the margin has to come from somewhere in order to please shareholders. TENET'S inadequate investments in critical building systems in this case, caused the inferior life-support systems to fail.

All this could be true, but there is one very crucial detail that explains everything. The back-up generators WERE IN THE BASEMENT. I wouldn't be surprised if this is common practice in most hospitals. Most hospitals put large ugly stuff in places that will not be used for patient care. Usually hospitals are designed to use all pleasant usable space for patient care. The issue is that no one planned for this kind of disaster ever, regardless of the fact that this was a the most obvious kind of disaster to hit this area. It just kind of fits in with all the other mismanaged parts to this puzzle. Everything was not planned for or not planned right. Yeah, so next time the generators will be put on the top floors, but that is for next time, if there is ever a next time for New New Orleans. And as far as rich or poor, I don't buy that jive. I think the ones that got the morphine hit, were the ones who were hardest to continue to sustain life. You can go after Tenet for a lot of things, but I really think at that moment, the docs and nurses weren't thinking of profit vs. not profitable, I think they were thinking, how can we make these people stop suffering in a comfortable way. A big hit of morphine sure beats suffocating to death and rotting in rooms that are 105 degrees without the use of a ventilator. Come on.

The "Girl" aka "h" is correct, and the basement in the Tidal Surge area or in N.O. is just a crimminaly neglant place to put those devices!!

negligent..OY Vey:-)

Thanks for the information Donald. And you don't need to tell me about for profit hospitals. I used to work for Richard Scrushy of Health South Fame. Remember him? Ah, lets see, defrauding Medicaid, building a hospital in Alabama after bribing the governer?

But even if Tenet was as you say, they still have to have those generators. Aren't there requirements and standards for hospitals? How many people among those killed were of the "less desirable" in the community?

Thanks for all of the comments…. h…Heidi. even Danny. Let’s try to separate some of human aspects versus the policy and procedures of a healthcare organization. As I mentioned before, Tenet and other FOR-PROFIT hospital organizations LACK effective capital planning and long term maintenance plans for their hospitals, especially building systems. I’ve witnessed this IN PERSON at a multitude of Tenet, HCA and other for-profit hospitals. Comparatively, I’ve personally witnessed SUPERIOR building systems, including generators at non-profit healthcare organizations. The non-profits design, engineer, install and maintain building infrastructure systems that are far superior to for-profits. PERIOD. There would have been a greater chance of success of generator system operation (even partially under water) in a non-profit facility.

Now the human aspect, given the circumstances of what occurred AS A DIRECT RESULT of inferior building systems as described above, I’m not sure how I would have acted as a caregiver. I can’t totally agree with Heidi (its murder!) or disagree with h (give em’ sister morphine). What we can all agree on (perhaps) is that, unless you PERSONALLY witness the level of human suffering that must have taken place, it’s difficult to render an opinion on the matter. I wonder what would have happened if the same patients were suffering in a religious based hospital?

Perhaps in a religious hospital the euphenism would have been, "I'm sending them to be with God". But then religion is not high on my list of esteemed organizations these days. I think you are right with having to witness the amount of suffering but I just can't understand the decision to kill someone. But then I have also discovered if you say you would never do it, your probably not being honest with who you actually are. You just haven't been in a situation where that situation has arisen.

Another perspective...would you rather suffer and rot, or maybe rot and suffer, in that disaster, or would you rather be put to sleep peacefully? I'd choose the latter.