Doctor talks about role after Katrina

A cancer surgeon once charged with killing four patients in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina said in a rare interview that she would stay with her patients again if a similar disaster struck.

Dr. Anna Pou was at Memorial Medical Center in New Orleans once power failed, levees broke and 80% of New Orleans was flooded.

In four days of misery, 34 patients at the hospital died. Afterward, Pou would be accused -- and later cleared -- of giving lethal doses of drugs to four patients during the chaos.

A year after her arrest, the district attorney dropped charges against two nurses charged with Pou, and a grand jury refused to indict the doctor.

Her experience made her a champion of emergency-care workers and disaster planning. She helped get landmark state legislation approved to protect the actions of doctors and nurses during disasters.

“I thought I had suffered at times in my life, but I had no idea the depths of pain one person could feel,” she said. “I think that has made me a better person and certainly a more compassionate doctor.”