Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital in Around the Year in 52 Books

Sep 10, 2014 Book Concierge rated it really liked it

Shelves: library, nonfiction, social-commentary, concierge, strong-women, nature, medicine, survival

Book on CD read by Kirsten Potter

The subtitle says it all: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital. This is the story of the men and women who survived Hurricane Katrina inside New Orleans Memorial Hospital, and of those who died.

Fink divides the book into two sections. In the first section she outlines the events leading up to, during and after the storm hit New Orleans. She gives us backgrounds on the key players – nurses, doctors, and patients. We also learn something of the corporate str Book on CD read by Kirsten Potter

The subtitle says it all: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital. This is the story of the men and women who survived Hurricane Katrina inside New Orleans Memorial Hospital, and of those who died.

Fink divides the book into two sections. In the first section she outlines the events leading up to, during and after the storm hit New Orleans. She gives us backgrounds on the key players – nurses, doctors, and patients. We also learn something of the corporate structure of Memorial and of Life Care (a hospital within a hospital). Fink reveals the difficulties with miscommunication, lack of infrastructure, and conflicting information.

In the second part of the book Fink turns her attention to the investigation and prosecution of Dr Anna Pou and nurses Cheri Landry and Lori Budo. Louisiana’s Attorney General’s office spearheaded the efforts to arrest and charge these women with homicide in the deaths of several patients at the facility. She outlines the difficulties the investigators had in getting records, the conflicting “eye witness” reports, and the variances in professional opinions. A grand jury was convened and heard testimony; the grand jury declined to indict Pou on every charge brought.

I thought that Fink did a fine job of outlining the conditions within the hospital during and after the storm. There was a definite sense of chaos and anxiety. Where were their rescuers? How would they get out? Where would they go? I could imagine their hopes being dashed witnessing a fire truck approaching, but turning back due to rising flood waters. Or hearing helicopters only to have them fly away. I can imagine how terrifying it felt to have to sprint across a glass-enclosed skywalk that is being buffeted by high winds, glass panes popping out and breaking. And I can imagine the stench of several days’ worth of backed-up toilets, sweaty bodies and frightened animals in a building with no lights or air conditioning.

In this first section, Fink’s reporting seemed even-handed, showing both good and bad behavior (nurses who manually ventilated patients when electricity went out; a doctor who seemed to care more about her cat than her patients) On the whole, the way Fink presented the five days at Memorial made me sympathetic to the staff as they did what they thought was best in a situation no one can really prepare for.

However, in part two, I felt that Fink lost some of her journalistic detachment. The grand jury may have declined to indict, but Fink seems bent on trying Dr Pou in this book. She explains that the three women’s attorneys (and attorneys for many of the other Memorial staff members who were never charged) advised their clients to never speak of the events to anyone, but Fink then goes on to belittle Pou for not talking about the time at Memorial in speeches the doctor later gave on disaster preparedness. And Fink gives the last word to an anonymous juror who shares her conviction that a crime was committed.

Despite what I perceive as Fink’s bias, however, I still think this was a fascinating and informative look at how our governments and institutions are prepared (or not prepared) to deal with the realities of a major disaster. I particularly liked the epilogue which looked at situations in New York during Hurricane Sandy several years later … and with most hospitals STILL having their electrical and mechanical systems in the basement, prone to flooding.

Kirsten Potter does a fine job reading the audiobook version. She has good pacing and, rather than “perform” the book, she reads as if she were reporting it. I think that style works well for this type of nonfiction.

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Feb 20, 2016 Andrea rated it really liked it

Maddening exploration of medical ethics in a disaster setting. Another story about how government agencies weren't prepared during Hurricane Katrina. Shocking and sad. ...more

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