The Case Study from Memorial Medical Center
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Introduction
Physicians are recognized as having both ethical and medical obligations to their parents, and this may aid in explaining why there has always existed a heated debate about the issue of euthanasia (Sweeney, 2014). Historically, the fields of medicine and medical law have often been at odds in regards to variables surrounding physician-patient relationships. While a physician is legally bound to practice medicine within the realm of the law, they are also ethically bound to carry out the requests of their patients in attempts to improve overall quality of life (Fremgen, 2012).
However, what is considered to be ethical varies from person to person, regardless of how ethics are defined. What if you were a physician in the middle of a natural disaster, completely cut off from aid, and had hundreds of patients relying on you to continue improving the quality of their life? A healthcare professional’s decision-making abilities during an emergency crisis must be laid with strong foundations and understanding of both the medical law and ethical decision-making skills.
The Case of Memorial Medical Center
When Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans in 2001, it was a disaster unlike Americans had witnessed in history. Moreover, evidence now shows that the majority of medical centers in and around New Orleans were ill-equipped in handling such crisis (Young, Baker, and Hogan, 2013). The actions that occurred at Memorial Medical Center involving Dr. Anna Pou and her nursing staff have been the topic of many case studies and debates. In summation, Dr. Pou, and
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other doctors, along with several nurses chose to euthanize at least 17 terminally-ill patients within the days following Hurricane Katrina (Fink, 2009).
Sweeney (2011) defines euthanasia as, “the administration of a lethal agent to a patient by another person to relieve the patient’s ‘intolerable and incurable’ suffering (9). Currently, this type of medical act is illegal in the United States, with the exception of a few states that have deemed it legal within the medical community. The act of euthanasia involves intent to kill and herein is where the illegalities stem. However, regardless of long-standing regulations, researchers and medical experts have often been at odds when it comes to deciding whether or not the act of euthanasia should be considered a judicial or ethical issue (Fink, 2009). Most importantly to the medical community, it is imperative that decisions are made with the utmost reason and logic available (Fremgen, 2012).
When given the opportunity to reflect on the incident that occurred, per my opinion, the hardest decision made was whether or not the terminally ill patients were going to receive medical care, and when, or if, this care would be received. I agree with the actions taken by the medical team at Memorial Medical Center, and I sincerely believe that the doctors and nurses involved acted in the best regards towards their patients and their overall quality of life. Memorial Medical Center did not have electricity, water, or means of transportation (Fink, 2009). These patients could not be moved to another facility. Overall, it is estimated that around 2,000 were bunkered inside the Medical Center, with at least 600 of these individuals being patients (Fink, 2009). Additionally, Dr. Pou wanted to know how a physician could fairly assess which patients should receive medical resources and which patients should not in such a state of
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emergency unexperienced before. Her main claim was that decisions such as these, as small as they may seem, can also be the difference between life and death for numerous terminally ill patients waiting to receive care during an emergency situation.
Typically, healthcare personnel follow standard decision making processes so as to deem their actions, and the actions of others, ethical. Planning, implementation, evaluation, and assessment are all steps involved in rational and logical decision making processes. However, during times of crises, individuals must make decisions on little to no information, and this is what I feel Dr. Pou and the other healthcare personnel did in this situation.
Conclusion
As previously mentioned, doctors are both legally and ethically responsible to the patients they treat. As healthcare personnel, we are trained to make the most logical and rational decisions based on education and training. However, when ethical and legal lines become blurred, it is easy to forget that actions were taken with the best interest of others in mind. No amount of planning and implementation can truly prepare us for crises such as Hurricane Katrina.
Despite the controversy, one thing is absolutely certain: the events that occurred at Memorial Medical Center in the wake of Hurricane Katrina raised questions and concerns that had not been raised in the American medical field. How should medical personnel handle emergency situations such as Hurricane Katrina? Even though such a tragedy occurred, it is good that the medical community has recognized the dire need for future research in the area of disaster ethics and healthcare personnel.
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References
Fink, S. (2009, August 25). Strained by Katrina, a hospital faced deadly choices. New York
Times. Retrieved from: http://www.epitomewerks.com/skidmrk/Strained%20by%20Katrina.pdf.
Fremgen, B. F. (2012). Introduction to medical law, ethics and bioethics (4th ed.). Pearson
Education, Inc. Upper Saddle River, NJ.
Sweeney, V. J. (2014). The story of Hurricane Katrina and Memorial Hospital. Seton Hall
Law. Retrieved from: http://scholarship.shu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1589&context=student_scholarship&sei-redir=1&referer=http%3A%2F%2Fscholar.google.com%2Fscholar%3Fq%3Deuthanasia%2Bhurricane%2Bkatrina%26btnG%3D%26hl%3Den%26as_sdt%3D0%252C18%26as_ylo%3D2010#search=%22euthanasia%20hurricane%20katrina%22.
Young, Y. M., Baker, J. R., and Hogan, J. G. (2013). Disaster ethics and healthcare personnel:
A model case study to facilitate the decision making process. Online Journal of Health Ethics, 3(2), 1-16. Retrieved from: http://aquila.usm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1030&context=ojhe&sei-redir=1&referer=http%3A%2F%2Fscholar.google.com%2Fscholar%3Fq%3Dhurricane%2Bkatrina%2Beuthanasia%26btnG%3D%26hl%3Den%26as_sdt%3D0%252C18%26as_ylo%3D2010#search=%22hurricane%20katrina%20euthanasia%22.
