A survey taken the weekend before Hurricane Katrina struck showed that more than half of the homes questioned had decided against evacuating. But a jury hearing the case against the owners of a home where 35 patients died in Katrina’s floods may never see the document.
The trial judge ruled the document could be admitted, but prosecutors immediately said they would appeal, forcing the defense to postpone the testimony of Joe Donchess, the executive director of the Louisiana Nursing Home Association, who compiled the list.
The list shows that 57 of the 88 facilities contacted decided not to evacuate, including at least nine nursing homes in Orleans Parish, where there was a mandatory evacuation order.