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Jolting discoveries put healthcare in the spotlight

Hospital Safety Connection, September 14, 2005

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Two very different cases at medical facilities in the New Orleans area had the same unfortunate outcome: the deaths of patients in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina's flooding.

Within the past week, authorities:

• discovered 34 dead bodies at St. Rita's Nursing Home in St. Bernard Parish, LA, who presumably were residents who drowned. The state's attorney general has charged the facility's owners with 34 counts of involuntary homicide, though an attorney for the owners told CNN that his clients are innocent and never received a mandatory evacuation order.
• found 45 corpses at Memorial Medical Center in New Orleans. The deceased patients all allegedly died while the hospital awaited help, and none of the victims were left behind alive during evacuations, according to the hospital's owner, Tenet Healthcare Corporation. The hospital cared for patients for days without power or necessary supplies.

Tenet used private security forces to protect the bodies after rescuers had evacuated living patients and staff.

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