The Shocking True Story Behind Five Days at Memorial

According to Fink, Cook believed that was the best course of action and told her, “It would be humane to get them out.”

What happened after the bodies were found?

After a state investigation into the unusual death toll at Memorial, Dr. Poe and nurses Cheri Landry and Lori Budeau were arrested in July 2006 in connection with the deaths of four LifeCare patients, according to the New York Times, who wrote that the charges against the nurses were later dropped in exchange for their testimony against Dr. Poe. (Landry and Budeau have not commented publicly on the case.)

At the time of Poe’s arrest, her attorney Rick Simmons said she was “absolutely innocent” and argued that Poe was just doing her job. “She volunteered to serve in the storm and was there for five days,” Simmons said New York Times in July 2007, “and then the state of Louisiana abandoned patients, hospitals, and everyone else.”

In July 2007, a grand jury declined to indict Dr. Poe on one count of second-degree murder and nine counts of conspiracy to commit second-degree murder, Fink said, because they could not conclusively say that Poe had “specific with intent to kill.” The charges were expunged from Poe’s criminal record.

Pou has since resumed his medical practice. “As of summer 2022,” Fink wrote on it website“she practiced as a head and neck cancer surgeon in Louisiana.”