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Hospital may have euthanized patients during hurricane Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-01-23-katrina-expert_x.htmhttp://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-01-23-katrina-expert_x.htm
Posted 1/23/2006 12:17 AM
Post-Katrina inquiry likely to need new expert
By Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY
Louisiana authorities investigating whether patients were euthanized at New Orleans-area hospitals after Hurricane Katrina probably will appoint a new medical consultant because the Pennsylvania coroner assisting the inquiry was indicted on federal charges Friday.
Kris Wartelle, spokeswoman for Louisiana Attorney General Charles Foti, said the indictment of coroner Cyril Wecht will not slow the state inquiry into more than 200 deaths at hospitals and nursing homes after Katrina hit Aug. 29.
However, the 84-count indictment that accuses Wecht of using his position as Allegheny County, Pa., coroner to support his consulting business probably will lead to the appointment of "another expert" to review toxicology reports in the Louisiana inquiry, Wartelle said.
The investigation is examining whether any of the 64 patients who died at Memorial and Lindy Boggs hospitals were euthanized to end their suffering, and whether dozens of residents who died at nursing homes were mistreated or neglected. Last month, Wecht gave Louisiana investigators an analysis of toxicology tests in the hospital deaths. He and Louisiana officials have declined to comment on the report. Foti has said his inquiry is nearing a conclusion.
The indictment against Wecht, who has been involved in several high-profile death investigations across the country, comes as New Orleans District Attorney Eddie Jordan prepares to impanel a grand jury that will launch its own review of the hospital deaths.
Jordan said he is moving forward with his investigation and that it is too early to assess the impact of Wecht's involvement in the Louisiana inquiry. "We don't know what his findings were, and we don't know what the attorney general has found," Jordan said.
Wecht's work in Louisiana was not addressed in the indictment, which among other things accuses him of trading unclaimed bodies at the Allegheny County morgue to a local university's research program in exchange for laboratory space to expand his consulting business.
Mary Beth Buchanan, the U.S. attorney in Pittsburgh, said in court papers that from 1997 to 2004, Wecht's business, Wecht Pathology, made nearly $9 million. Wecht's share of that was estimated at $4.6 million, the indictment says.
"Cyril Wecht abused the position, authority and resources of the Allegheny County Coroner's Office to obtain money, property, services and other items of value for his personal benefit," Buchanan said.
Wecht has resigned from his position with Allegheny County, said his attorney Mark Rush.
"I would hope that (the indictment) would not be an issue" in the Louisiana investigation, Rush said.
The Louisiana investigation is looking into whether staff members at Memorial and Lindy Boggs administered lethal doses of morphine or other drugs to alleviate the suffering of critically ill patients whose conditions deteriorated when floodwaters swamped the city and power failures shut down the hospitals.
Forty-five people died at Memorial Hospital; 19 died at Lindy Boggs. Tenet health care, which operates both hospitals, has said there was no wrongdoing and that it is cooperating with the investigation. Tenet declined to comment on Wecht's role in the inquiry.
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