[Brianna Ledger]

1. Sheri Fink conducted over 500 interviews to construct this work of narrative journalism. What challenges must she have faced in order to craft this book? What dilemmas of her own do you think she wrestled with while researching and writing?

I first and foremost have the most respect for Sheri Fink, for taking time and so many hours of planning that must have gone into the thought process. In order to craft this book, she had to be brave, she had to be able to ask the hard questions. She had to keep her integrity in place and to stay unbiased. Being Sheri Frank I would experience moral dilemmas as she got new information, cross reference what she heard from previous interviews, I’m sure the perception of what really happened at memorial might have changed a few times.

2. The prologue opens with the crux of the life-or-death issues doctors faced at Memorial Hospital. What questions does the prologue raise for you about Hurricane Katrina? Why do you think doctors like Dr. Pou were ultimately placed in the predicament to prematurely extinguish the lives of their patients? What would you have done given the circumstances? Note: We will engage this “Big Question” again after reading the book.

Why did they not do a full evacuation when they knew the storm was a Category 4 hurricane? Why didn’t they have drills for emergency Hurricanes when they were in a flood zone? Dr. Pou stated that the sickest wouldn’t be leaving the hospital. Theo didn’t know if Dr. Pou decided that or someone else. I think Dr. Pou was trying to end their suffering or didn’t think they would make it through the rescue. Giving the circumstances, I would advocate for the patient, volunteer to sit with them at their bedside and keep them comfortable. I do not ever want to harm anyone.

3. Who was given exemptions from the mandatory evacuation? Why? What other orders given were significant? What “old knowledge” and customs were presented in the book as Hurricane Katrina drew closer?

Hospitals. Those who had the best long-term chance of survival, those who was the most ill would stay in the hospital. The old knowledge and customs that were presented in the book as hurricane Katrina drew closer was that they used the hospital as a shelter in place during emergencies but that should have never been the case. Their electrical systems, medical records and supplies were all on the lowest level of the hospital. There had been many situations where Baptist/Memorial had found themselves underwater. Negligent on the hospitals part.

[Author]

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