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Sheri Fink on five deadly days at Memorial hospital following Hurricane Katrina

The waters of Hurricane Katrina had barely begun to subside in New Orleans when stories and accusations suggested vulnerable patients at one hospital had been euthanized. Journalist Sheri Fink joins us to share her investigation into Five Days at Memorial....
CBC Radio ·
The waters of Hurricane Katrina had barely begun to subside in New Orleans when stories and accusations suggested vulnerable patients at one hospital had been euthanized. Journalist Sheri Fink joins us to share her investigation into Five Days at Memorial.


Hurricane Katrina was nearly unprecedented in its power and lethal force... and it may have led to some nearly unprecedented medical decisions as well.

You need to be scared. You need to be concerned. And you need to get your butts moving out of New Orleans right now. This is the storm of the century. So as a result of that ladies and gentlemen, I am announcing today that we are ordering a mandatory evacuation of the City of New Orleans starting at 8 am in the morning on the West Bank and I must tell you, this is the mother of all storms.Ray Nagin, Mayor of New Orleans
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As Hurricane Katrina bore down on New Orleans in 2005, mayor Ray Nagin was about to sound prophetic. But even among those who believed him, not everyone was able to clear out. City hospitals prepared as best they could, but were soon overwhelmed.

In the days and months following Katrina, one particular hospital, Memorial Medical Centre, found itself in the eye of a different kind of storm.

Author Sheri Fink won a Pulitzer Prize for her coverage of what happened. Her new book is called Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital. She was in New York City.

We have invited Dr. Anna Pou to speak to us on the program. She was unavailable today, but we hope she will join us in the coming days.

Tomorrow on The Current, we'll turn the lens on Canadian hospitals -- and ask how well prepared they are to handle disaster if or when it strikes.

Share your thoughts on today's discussion with journalist Sheri Fink.

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This segment was produced by The Current's Howard Goldenthal.

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