The state’s threat to prosecute Dr. Anna M. Pou for murder is a sad reflection of the incompetence in the Louisiana state government that permeated the preparations for and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. After almost two years now of legal limbo, Dr. Pou’s defense team is fighting back:

Dr. Anna Pou – the physician arrested in the deaths of four patients at a New Orleans hospital after Hurricane Katrina – filed suit against the Louisiana Attorney General on Monday, accusing him of using her arrest to fuel his re-election bid.
The suit, filed in state court in Baton Rouge, also seeks to force the state to provide a legal defense for Pou against civil lawsuits filed by families of three of the patients.
Last year, State Attorney General Charles Foti claimed Pou and two nurses killed four people with a ëëlethal cocktail” at Memorial Medical Center during the chaotic conditions after the August 2005 storm. The four were among at least 34 who died at the sweltering, flooded hospital in the days following Katrina. Pou, who is free on bond, has not been formally charged. A New Orleans grand jury is looking into the case.
Foti had Pou arrested, ëëcalled an international press conference the next day to announce the arrest, made extra judicial comments totally contrary to the Rules of Professional Responsibility, and culminated the week’s activity with an attorney general fund raiser to showcase his ëachievements’ in the arrest of Dr. Pou and the two nurses,” the suit says.
Foti was not immediately available for comment . . .

Go Dr. Pou!