The day after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans,
everybody thought we got so lucky,
that everything was gonna be fine.
And it was fine.
The sun was out, water pulled back.
And then we learned the levees had broken.
All this water started pouring into the city,
and there was no way to stop it.
Did you have any idea how bad things would get at Memorial?
Nobody knew.
When you look back at what happened,
what stands out to you the most?
What stands out?
I guess what stands out to me is that it was just five days.
It only took five days for everything to fall apart.
How was Dr. Pou during all this?
- How was she... - How was her...
If you were to describe her behavior over those five days?
The same as everybody.
The circumstances reveal who you really are.
When are they going to get us out of here?
Oh.
Oh! That's good. That's... That's...
Okay. Okay. That'll get some air in here.
I know it's stuffy. I know it is hot.
But I need everybody to be real still and listen.
Whatever else you've heard,
whatever talk's going around, I'm gonna tell you straight.
There has been a break in the 17th Street Canal levee.
Maybe a couple of others. And the city pumps aren't working.
Water is coming, and it's gonna keep coming.
The hospital will be flooded, maybe to the second floor.
We have to evacuate, and we have to start moving now.
Evacuate to where?
There's looting going on outside.
Hold on. I do not know what's going on out there,
but I know that there are 15 feet of water coming here.
We will be cut off, without power.
And when the basement goes, we'll lose the rest of our food, our supplies down there.
- We're already running short on medicines. - Why would we evacuate
when the National Guard are here?
I don't know how long they're gonna stay.
They're being redeployed all over the city.
And we need to get out of here
before we lose the rest of the power in the building.
We have generators.
When the water gets to four feet, it's gonna flood the electrical switches
and they're gonna shut down.
The water's coming in at about one foot an hour.
So, worst-case, we got four hours.
- Great. - Anything other than that is luck.
How do we get the patients out?
We talked to the National Guard about, uh, getting some vehicles.
We're talking to our contractors about getting some ambulances out here.
Sandra has been emailing Tenet
to see if they can contract some private helicopters, or if the Coast Guard...
Can they even? I mean, can helicopters even land here?
When... When was the last time anyone used the landing pad?
Was when the Pope was here.
That was in 1991.
The pope was here in 1987.
Perfect.
Eighteen years?
Seriously?
It's been 18 years since you used the pad?
Even if the pad is operational,
the garage elevators aren't wired into the backup electricity system.
They're not working.
There's no way to get the patients directly from the hospital to the helipad.
Do any of y'all have an engineering background?
Any kind of engineering?
- Anybody? - Yep.
Go with Eric, and I need you to start looking over the pad.
I need you to decide whether it's stable or not.
Decide? How?
I need you to decide.
- Well, come on. Let's go. - All right.
We will find a way to get the patients to the pad.
We'll figure something out.
Right now, I need you all to start talking to your teams.
The city water is fouled.
Do not use, do not drink from any of the taps.
And the bottled water, we have to let that stretch for 2,000 people…
Hey. It's Vince. Anna and I can't come to the phone.
Vince, it's me again.
Call me soon as you can, all right?
I'm all right but call me.
- Can everybody come here? - What'd they say in the meeting?
Everybody, come over here, please.
I need all of you to be very calm, okay? Can you do that?
Diane? Diane. They're evacuating the hospital.
Who's evacuating?
Memorial. I heard they're getting everybody out.
- We're gonna have to evacuate. - Evacuate the floor?
- The whole hospital. - Evacuate when?
Now. Right now.
Are they taking us with them? How are we supposed to get our patients out?
Who is in charge?
- Diane? - Stay with your mom.
- What's going on? - Just stay with your mother, okay?
There's water coming in.
It's filling up the parking lot.
Just stay there. Just stay with my mom, okay?
Yeah, I'm here.
I figured they gotta be setting up checkpoints around the city,
letting people out but not letting people in.
If we can find a base of operations or marshaling point,
and get ourselves some volunteer credentials,
we can get into the city and make our way to the hospital.
Yeah, but if we do all this and they've already got your mom out, then…
Well, what if they haven't?
I mean, what if they can't?
I mean, the power's out and the water's rising.
But it's a hospital.
Without power, it's not a hospital. It's just a building.
Look, one way or the other, it's better to get there
than just stay here, praying for a call that's never gonna come.
I mean, she's my mom. I'm not leaving her.
We should find a fire station.
The city's gonna be calling in emergency personnel,
and if they are, maybe we can tag with them and work our way in.
We'll get your mom.
However we have to, we'll get her.
Susan?
- Diane Robichaux from Life Care. - Hi.
Are you evacuating the hospital?
Yes.
Why am I just finding out?
How are we supposed to evacuate our patients?
You're a private hospital. You don't have your own plan?
We can't contact anyone. We don't even have any of our doctors up there.
You can't communicate with your corporate offices?
I mean, barely.
See if they can get in touch with the Coast Guard or any private air charter,
and if our helipad is operational, I will let you know.
And get me a list of your critical patients.
That's most of them.
Just get me a list and we'll do what we can.
But right now, we can't even help ourselves.
Anything?
I got a phone number for some Air National Guard officer.
That's a Baton Rouge number.
- He's supposed to be coordinating... - Did you call?
- I couldn't get through... - What about Tenet?
- I've been emailing them, but... - Email them again and tell them
- that we are running out of time. - I told them...
They are our parent corporation, for Christ's sake.
Tell them that we have about four hours left
before we lose power and we need help.
I'm trying.
I know you are. I know you are.
Just let me know when you hear anything, okay?
Yeah.
This was a common sight today.
Helicopters and rescue teams, lifting people one by one,
hundreds and hundreds, and all from rooftops.
New Orleans thought it had been spared the worst,
and then two major levees broke and, slowly, the city has filled with water.
Canal Street is now a canal.
This city is going to be, essentially, uninhabitable for many days.
The city that sits below sea level is now undersea.
Overnight there were two breaches in the levee system that protects New Orleans.
One in 200…
Hey, we just got another email from Memorial in New Orlean...
- What? - Memorial, in New Orleans.
They got to evacuate patients.
I mean, everything's been flooded.
Sounds kinda panicky, right?
- I mean, what should we do? - Do? Like...
I mean, is there any kind of emergency procedure or anything, or...
Just forward the email to somebody.
These emails are going wide. No one's responding.
Well, I don't know what to tell you.
Michael. The pro form as for SC. Can I get you to sign off?
Yeah.
You want me to do this now?
Like to get it out by tomorrow.
Uh…
Can we do this later?
- Well, we have to get them to print. - I'll be right back.
- Steve? - Hi.
We're getting emails.
One of our hospitals, there was flooding after the hurricane,
- and they need to evacuate. - Okay?
They're asking for help.
- I guess, I'm wondering do we have any... - Do we?
Does the company have any contracts with medical transport companies
or is there an evacuation plan? Is there anybody that may...
I wouldn't know about any emergency plans.
Isn't there somebody in Louisiana?
I mean, we're business development.
Right.
Just sounds like they really need help.
- I don't... I don't know. - Look, well…
Hey, Michael. Wait.
Who's that one VP? Uh, used to be in the National Guard?
- Which one? - It's Portis, I think.
- Now, go look him up in the directory. - Great.
- All right. Keep me in the loop. - Yeah. Will do.
Alan Portis's office.
Hi. This is Michael Arvin with Tenet in Dallas. I'm trying...
I'm sorry. What was the name?
Michael Arvin. I'm the Director of Business Development for Tenet Gulf Coast.
We've got an emergency in New Orleans.
One of our hospitals, at-at least one, is requesting emergency services and I...
Mr. Portis is on vacation. I can take a message.
- Uh, can you reach him? - Mr. Portis is on vacation.
There's a hospital... a company hospital, that is being flooded and needs help.
I really need to speak to Mr. Portis.
- Hello? - H-H-Hold, please.
Hey, would you turn up the TV a bit?
The water here is a foot deep. The water there, much, much deeper.
Twelve hours ago, we drove on these streets and they were completely dry.
Mr. Arvin?
Yeah, I'm here.
- You have Mr. Portis. - Hello.
Mr. Portis. Michael Arvin.
I'm the Director of Business Development for Tenet Gulf Coast.
Yes?
We've got an emergency in New Orleans. We're getting these emails
that one of our hospitals is requesting emergency services,
and I was told you might have been in the National Guard.
That's right.
Well, I was wondering, do you have any contacts at National Guard?
- Anybody I might be able to reach out... - No. No, I don't.
Do you have thoughts about somebody who I might be able to get in contact with...
I'm not at the office right now.
These emails are sounding urgent. I don't think this is able to wait.
Call the National Guard. They're probably coordinating something.
Yeah. I'm trying to get some kinda number
for the Louisiana National Guard or the Coast Guard.
Yeah, I'll hold.
...do not have enough. Unprepared and overwhelmed.
…headed for higher ground.
Come on. Come on. Keep them coming.
More. More, more, more, more. That's it. Come on.
How are we supposed to get 200 patients up here this way?
Yeah.
Hey, come on.
- We gotta check the structure, yeah? - Yeah.
Jesus.
Anything?
There's corrosion. It's everywhere, all the metal.
How bad?
I don't know how bad. All I can tell you is what I see.
Maybe we can fit a bone saw up here.
Uh, cut through some of this metal, and see how pervasive the corrosion is.
Now, before we start landing any helicopters up here,
better make goddamn sure this thing can take the weight.
Okay.
- Freddy. - Yeah.
Yeah, I'm coming down. I need some kinda saw. A steel cutter.
- Steel cutter? - Yeah, and I need it fast.
No.
No!
Hey! Hey, come here.
- Me? - You! Come here.
Do you need help?
Yeah.
Guard 5-8-5, I'm at…
- Where am I? - Baptist Memorial Hospital.
Baptist Memorial Hospital. Medical personnel requesting evac.
Copy that.
I can evac one person.
- One? - One. Hurry.
There are almost 200 patients we have to evacuate.
We need to discuss who's going first and who's going last.
I think that the most sick patients,
the ones who are most dependent on life support or mechanical aid,
should go out first.
So, that's almost two dozen in the ICU.
We can't care for any of them if and when the power goes out.
Same with the neonates, those on ventilators.
They're not gonna survive.
We have several high-risk pregnant mothers, half dozen dialysis patients,
and two bone marrow transplant patients.
All of them have to get to acute care as soon as possible,
and after that, we move the more stable patients,
then the civilians and families, then staff, and, last, doctors.
Sorry.
Can we agree on that?
Uh…
Yes.
All right. Now, the National Guard has promised
to move 35 medical and surgical patients out by truck.
Thirty-five? That's it?
Well, that's what they said. They...
There's a helicopter. There's a helicopter up on the pad.
How did a helicopter pilot think...
I was standing there. I was waving. He thought I was signaling him.
- He says... - Is he from Tenet?
- How many are they sending? - Just listen to me.
He says he can take one patient, but we have to hurry.
- What, one? - One.
- The neonates. Take one of the neonates. - Okay. Okay.
Sandra, the helipad's operational.
- Let Tenet know we can take helicopters. - Yes. Copy.
Karen, the helipad's operational. Get your patients ready to move.
We're sending the neonates first and everybody in the ICU.
Got it.
We're gonna start moving the patients, okay? Let's go.
Okay. There's a helicopter.
The sickest baby, bring it. Get the rest ready to move.
- Take Baby Edmonds. - Okay.
Let's go. Pile that door.
Over here.
Steve. I just heard from Memor...
Hold on one second.
I just heard from Memorial. They can take helicopters.
I got a hospital in Baton Rouge willing to take patients.
I'm trying to contact some private helicopter companies,
and we got a couple hospitals in Atlanta offering evacuation support.
No. No sky...
The company's saying it needs to be Coast Guard, National Guard.
I've been in touch with them. They know the situation.
Atlanta wants to help.
Mike, this isn't airlifting from a car accident.
This is flooding. This is rescue. Okay?
It's the military. That's what they do. Let 'em do it, okay?
Okay?
Okay.
Yeah, I'm here.
Uh, Memorial can take helicopters, but we're going to try to use the Coast Guard.
Yeah, I'll keep you posted.
...a possible doomsday scenario.
The water keeps rising here at an alarming rate,
and Mayor Ray Nagin says that if the Army Corps of Engineers
cannot patch that break in the levee, then by the end of today,
all of downtown New Orleans, even the parts that are above sea level,
could be completely underwater.
Careful.
Watch it. Swing. All right.
- Just… - All right. On three.
- Okay, ready? Let's go. - One, two, three.
Okay.
Yep. Keep it level.
- Easy, easy. - Careful, step.
- Easy. - Okay. Turn, turn, turn.
Ready? Watch your feet.
Okay, here we go.
- I can't lift it anymore. - Okay.
Little slower, little slower. Oh, God.
- Oh, hey. Come on. - Okay.
I'm good. I'm good.
Hey, wait. We gotta give her oxygen.
- Give me a second. - She good?
Is she good? Let's go.
All right, ready?
Guys, that's it. That's it.
Hey, what the fuck were you doing? That took too long!
- The elevator's not working. - Then figure something out.
People need help and we can't waste time here.
Get her in. Let's go. Hurry up.
- We gotta go. - Come on. Come on. Come on.
Now move back!
- Now, move back. Move! - She's not coming back.
All right!
All clear, let's go!
If we can get the neonates out by helicopter,
35 patients by National Guard transport,
then that leaves us with what?
A hundred and fifty patients, plus doctors, plus staff, plus civilians.
Do we need to consider as we're prioritizing patients.
I think the DNRs should go last.
Why?
Well, they've already signed a Do Not Resuscitate order.
They've indicated they don't want to be saved.
Well, that's not...
A DNR doesn't mean don't save a person.
A DNR means if a person codes you don't revive them.
Well, for a patient to get a DNR they have to have a certified term in...
No, no. That's...
- You're misunderstanding what a DNR act... - No, Richard. Richard.
Why prioritize DNR patients now?
Look, we've only got four patients in the ICU who have DNRs. Four.
And what we're talking about is a last resort contingency.
If you could get four healthy patients out versus four who are terminal, wouldn't...
Uh, I think we should bring Susan in on this conversation.
She's the one in charge. Right?
Mm-hmm.
Right there.
Go. Come on.
Yeah, go on through.
Okay. There we go.
Slow down. Conserve it, okay?
Yeah. And save some for yourself,
'cause when you get dehydrated, you can't help anybody.
Jane?
What's going on? Her heart monitor's disconnected?
We were told that nonessential care was being suspended
- because we're evacuating patients. - Told? Told by who?
- Dr. Cook said tha... - I don't care what he said.
She's my patient. Reattach her monitor.
I should check with Dr. Cook.
Excuse me?
I should check with do...
You don't have to check with anybody. Reattach her monitor.
You know what? Fuck that. Fuck that.
Nurse, I said that all nonessential care was suspended.
This woman isn't nonessential. She needs to be continuously monitored.
- I... - Disconnect that heart monitor.
- You know, if you have something to say… - Do not reconnect it unless I tell you.
- She is my patient. But she is my patient! - We don't have time for nonsense.
I am in charge of this floor, and I've told you what to do.
I'm not going to be dictated to by some junior physician.
Do you understand?
So fucking...
Hey, who's in charge?
Um, that guy over there.
Thank you.
You're standing around, wasting time.
Sir, you in charge?
Who are you?
Uh, we're just looking to help.
If y'all are heading into New Orleans, we'd like to do what we can.
- We're not taking civvies. - We're not civvies.
I'm-I'm a paramedic.
Look, I coordinate the EMT program at Nunez Community College in Chalmette.
If you want to call and ask, my name is Sandra LeBlanc.
I know what I'm doing, and I want to help.
Jimmy! Bring me some paperwork!
Now, get logged in.
I need your names, any training, next of kin.
Got plenty of hands here. When are y'all gonna move out?
- I don't know. - What are you waiting for?
Somebody to figure out what to do with us.
We got a National Guard truck, y'all.
His oxygen's good.
- She's all right. She's oxygenating. - It's okay.
Uh-huh. Keep it coming. All right, watch out.
You okay? You all right?
- Right behind you. - I'm okay.
She's good.
Careful.
That's it. That's all we can get.
- Okay, you coming? - Oh, careful.
It's okay, baby. We got you.
- So, where are you taking them? - Texas.
That's the closest hospital?
That's what we were told, that's where we're going.
They just got you.
Where'd they say they'd go?
Keep your heads down until we exit.
All right, you're good.
Okay, that's it.
That's only 20 patients. You were supposed to take 35.
That's all the room we've got.
Okay, so when is the next truck coming?
Soon as it can. Are you coming?
You should go.
No, you go.
It's all right. I mean, what am I gonna do in Texas?
All right. It's all right.
What are we supposed to do?
It's okay, it's uh... The next one is coming.
That's it. Okay.
Clear.
This don't make no damn sense.
Where are the helicopters?
Oh, shit.
Where the fuck are the helicopters?
Tell somebody there are no helicopters.
Oh, shit.
Hey. Back off!
Hey! Back off! Back off!
Susan, we can't hold back the water. It's gonna flood our panels.
We're gonna lose our generators.
You said we had four hours.
I said, "Best-case, we've got four hours." We got minutes.
Susan. There are no helicopters.
The neonates are up on the pad, and there are no helicopters.
Sandra? Sandra, where are the helicopters?
We have babies on the pad.
I-I don't know. They said they would be there.
We need helicopters and we need them now!
And days after Hurricane Katrina hit, people are still stranded,
hoping a passing helicopter will pluck them away to safety.
Frustration over the pace of the federal relief effort
has reached the boiling point.
Today, blistering criticism. The mayor of New Orleans.
Now, get off your asses and let's do something.
And let's fix the biggest god crisis in the history of this country.
- All right. - There's no way we're saving these panels!
Yeah, let's get out of here. It's too fucking dangerous. Come on.
Come on.
Nurse, is it gonna be okay?
We can't run the ventilators without power.
Search and rescue operations go on from what FEMA now calls
the most significant natural disaster ever to hit the United States.
…potentially devastating problem,
because the Crescent City area is below sea level.
Tonight, darkness, of course, had fallen.
And you can hear people yelling for help.
You can hear the dogs yelping.
All of them stranded. All of them hoping someone will come.
But for tonight, they've had to suspend the-the rescue efforts.
Water is still pouring into that city. It's getting worse.
Hundreds, if not thousands of people
remain stranded on their roofs or in their attics waiting to be rescued.
Not only are there floodwaters there, but it's dangerous.
The, uh, the violence, the looting, the snipers. It's a dangerous situation.
Those in New Orleans have been talking about
possibly evacuating two hospitals in the area.
But we have just now learned that those plans have been put on hold.
There are reports of multiple levees
breached all around the city.
Floodwaters rise, chaos reigns, as a city falls into crisis.
Don't know how we can impress upon people what is really going on here.
I think people just don't have a concept...
Neighborhood after neighborhood submerged in water.
The number of the trapped, the missing, the dead remains unknown.
You feeling like a little bit of water?
- Mmm. You okay? - Susan. How y'all doing?
Hey. Just letting my mother get a little rest.
Y'all have been out here all day. I figured I could relieve some folks.
Start letting everybody in your unit know
that there aren't any more National Guard trucks coming.
Water's already too high,
and they're pulling the rest of their people out.
What about our people?
Corporate is doing everything they can.
Hospitals are without water, even power.
So, how long can they keep it up?
How are they gonna get the critically ill out of the city?
We have very little food, very little water.
And everybody's rationing.
They... What we're really concerned about
is most of these ventilators have been run by batteries
and, well, we don't have batteries.
And, unfortunately, they're gonna die when we run out of batteries.
Moments ago massive explosions shake New Orleans.
As the city spirals out of control, there appears to be anarchy…
Nothing from anybody? No marching orders?
None.
Jesus.
All right. Forget this.
Get me the location of the closest SARBOO. We're not sitting around anymore.
Got it.
All right, let's go. Gear up. We're gonna move out.
Come on. Everybody, find a vehicle.
Make sure you've got some water and take it with you.
- About time. - Come on.
- Where are we going? - I don't know, but we're moving.
Get those flashlights. We're going to work.
All right. Let's go. Backup batteries too.
Roll out.
Load up the rig.
There's nothing more precious than life, you know?
Not one single thing.
I know. Trust me, I know.
But thank you for the reminder.
Boy or girl?
That I do not know.
Are you for real? You got to be kidding me.
Um. There are darn few surprises left in life.
You know, true, good surprises.
Good Lord has blessed me with one, and I will look forward to its reveal.
Now, don't go getting down on me.
You get sad and I get sad.
Both of us got plenty to live for.
Let's just leave it at that.
Okay.
Diane? Diane.
Diane, a patient's coding.
What happened?
He went into pulse less V-fib. No respirations.
He's full code, and there's no DNR order.
Go down to Memorial. Tell them we got a patient coding and need a doctor.
I'll get a crash cart.
Hey, I need a doctor.
- Life Care, seventh floor. Code Blue. - Can't anyone up there take it?
There aren't any doctors up there. We need somebody.
Dr. Pou, Code Blue on seven.
I'll go. Get an ER doctor.
- Where? - This way.
Charging.
- Everybody, stand back. - Clear?
Clear.
- Shock delivered. All clear? - Clear.
- Now press. - What's going on?
Seventy-three-year-old male, right-sided pneumonia, COPD,
colitis, diabetes, intermittent cardiac arrhythmia.
- How long has he been coding? - Ten minutes.
Oh, boy.
- Second dose of epi is in. - Try again.
Systolic is absent.
All right, keep up.
Okay, let's intubate him. Uh, stop the compression.
Quick as you can.
The patient is flat lining.
Nothing.
Start compression.
Negative, negative.
No response.
Intubated. Starting airflow.
Okay. Got no blood pressure. Okay, continue those compressions.
Anything?
Still no vitals. All right, just keep going.
Do we have a heartbeat?
There's nothing.
Come on.
Stop compression.
Time of death, uh, 10:15.
That's how it all began.
Us in the dark. Cut off. No power.
Look, you all did your best.
You all did the best you could.
Thank you.
Yes. You can't understand what it was like.
Even for us, even for doctors, death…
Isn't common.
We save lives. We save them.
But we went from being able to save lives to…
It doesn't take much for everything to break down.
And what happened next, we couldn't stop.
I couldn't stop it.
What was it you couldn't stop, doctor?
You couldn't stop people from dying?
Or you couldn't stop them from being killed?
​
It's all well and good for everyone to say
what should have happened, but the reality of it is very different.
They weren't prepared to be in a hospital in a flood with no power
and very little help coming in from the outside.
And you think,
"Well, that seems like the first thing that they should have prepared for,"
but it's almost as though it were too horrific a thought
to even try to prepare for it.
Episode 103 is when everyone in this hospital realizes,
"We are flooding, and it is inextricable."
Cherry brought this emotional,
empathetic side to Mulderick.
I think it would be so easy
for Mulderick to be painted in a very hard and regimented way.
But what Cherry brought to the role made her so much more three-dimensional.
Just let me know when you hear anything.
We're talking to our contractors
about getting some private helicopters, or if the Coast Guard...
This helipad was this perilous place
up on top of the parking garage of this hospital.
We built it in a green field
because we just needed a large, level site.
We built it up to a height of just under 10 feet.
The stairs up to it were built as a separate element,
and then we used motion control
to basically stitch all of the component parts together.
We need to get out of here
The basement set was built in a deeper tank
that allowed for higher levels of water and included tip tanks.
Behind you there is, um...
Where the tip tanks operate.
Water is gonna fill up that area behind the doors.
The doors are on a catch release.
They're gonna buckle, groan and then release.
We dropped 1,200 gallons of water on them
- in five seconds. - Oh, shit.
As conditions get worse,
they realize the magnitude of the disaster,
and they realize that they are truly left on their own.
Sandra, where are the helicopters?
I don't know. They said they would be there.
It was very clear early on
there was no guidebook for this.
There was no planning for this.
Code team's here. Thank God.
It's not very long after we lose those generators,
lose those monitors, that we lose our first patient.
The impact of that, psychologically and emotionally,
on the staff cannot be underestimated.
It's a harbinger of things to come.
The circumstances reveal who you really are.