A Doctor Says She Didn’t Murder Her Patients

Pou hopes the case will raise awareness of a need to more broadly protect doctors who are willing to offer medical care in disastrous situations. “You have to encourage doctors, not discourage them, to volunteer their services in a crisis,” says Rick Simmons, her attorney, who believes a nationwide good Samaritan law is needed. Pou, who resumed practicing medicine in February, says she is trying to move forward with her life. That won’t be easy. “I think everybody who lived through Katrina will carry the memories for the rest of their lives,” she says. “How can that ever be over for anybody?”

–Julie Scelfo

© 2007