Two nurses accused in the post-Katrina deaths of four patients at New Orleans' Memorial Medical Center have been offered immunity to testify before a special grand jury, sources close to the investigation tell CNN.
Sources also told CNN the grand jury has been told as many as nine patients may have died after being administered what Louisiana's attorney general called a "lethal cocktail" of medications by hospital staff.
Family members said staffers used the drugs to kill patients so caregivers could flee appalling conditions inside the hospital after the storm.
Dr. Anna Pou and nurses Cheri Landry and Lori Budo were arrested in July 2006 after a 10-month investigation. Louisiana Attorney General Charles C. Foti charged them with second-degree murder.
Sources close to the investigation told CNN the two nurses are expected to testify before the grand jury in the next two weeks, which could signal a possible wrapping up of the case. It could also signal the main target of the investigation is Pou, a physician who was under contract with Memorial Medical Center when Katrina struck.
Attorneys for Landry and Budo did not immediately return calls from CNN regarding their testimony. Pou's attorney, Rick Simmons, provided a statement saying Pou has had no role in the grand jury proceedings.
"We remain confident that once all the facts are known, all medical personnel will be exonerated of any criminal charges," the statement continued. "The fact that certain witnesses may or may not be talking to the grand jury does not change that fact."
'Lethal cocktail' administered
The investigation determined that the four patients -- ages 63, 68, 91 and 93 -- were given a "lethal cocktail" of morphine and midazolam hydrochloride, both central nervous system depressants, Foti said.
None of the patients had been prescribed the drugs by their caregivers and none of the accused treated the four before the injections, Foti said.
"This was not euthanasia," Foti said at a news conference last summer. "This was homicide."
Pou, Landry and Budo have denied the charges, and their attorneys have said they acted heroically, staying to treat patients rather than evacuating.
The case has languished since. Foti said he turned his findings over to Orleans Parish District Attorney Eddie Jordan, who by law must either file charges or reject the case.
Instead, Jordan impaneled a grand jury, and has vowed to let it decide what charges, if any, should be sought. Jordan also directed New Orleans Coroner Frank Minyard to hire outside forensic experts to review the case.
But sources close to the investigation say the case has moved very slowly. And one of the forensic experts in the case told CNN he has yet to testify.
Dr. Michael Baden, the former chief medical examiner for New York City, said Minyard hired him to review the deaths. Baden said he has not been asked to appear before the the grand jury.
Minyard has testified in the case. So have two investigators for the Louisiana attorney general's office.
CNN has learned a third nurse, not charged in the investigation, has also testified, saying she accompanied Pou on the seventh floor of the hospital to make sure all the patients left behind were deceased.
Dalton Savwoir, a spokesman for the district attorney's office, said the slow movement of the case is intentional.
"It's definitely still in the investigatory phase," Savwoir told CNN. He would not confirm the witness list and refused to speculate on whether the two accused nurses have been offered immunity if they testify.
Sources also told CNN the grand jury has been told as many as nine patients may have died after being administered what Louisiana's attorney general called a "lethal cocktail" of medications by hospital staff.
Family members said staffers used the drugs to kill patients so caregivers could flee appalling conditions inside the hospital after the storm.
Dr. Anna Pou and nurses Cheri Landry and Lori Budo were arrested in July 2006 after a 10-month investigation. Louisiana Attorney General Charles C. Foti charged them with second-degree murder.
Sources close to the investigation told CNN the two nurses are expected to testify before the grand jury in the next two weeks, which could signal a possible wrapping up of the case. It could also signal the main target of the investigation is Pou, a physician who was under contract with Memorial Medical Center when Katrina struck.
Attorneys for Landry and Budo did not immediately return calls from CNN regarding their testimony. Pou's attorney, Rick Simmons, provided a statement saying Pou has had no role in the grand jury proceedings.
"We remain confident that once all the facts are known, all medical personnel will be exonerated of any criminal charges," the statement continued. "The fact that certain witnesses may or may not be talking to the grand jury does not change that fact."
'Lethal cocktail' administered
The investigation determined that the four patients -- ages 63, 68, 91 and 93 -- were given a "lethal cocktail" of morphine and midazolam hydrochloride, both central nervous system depressants, Foti said.
None of the patients had been prescribed the drugs by their caregivers and none of the accused treated the four before the injections, Foti said.
"This was not euthanasia," Foti said at a news conference last summer. "This was homicide."
Pou, Landry and Budo have denied the charges, and their attorneys have said they acted heroically, staying to treat patients rather than evacuating.
The case has languished since. Foti said he turned his findings over to Orleans Parish District Attorney Eddie Jordan, who by law must either file charges or reject the case.
Instead, Jordan impaneled a grand jury, and has vowed to let it decide what charges, if any, should be sought. Jordan also directed New Orleans Coroner Frank Minyard to hire outside forensic experts to review the case.
But sources close to the investigation say the case has moved very slowly. And one of the forensic experts in the case told CNN he has yet to testify.
Dr. Michael Baden, the former chief medical examiner for New York City, said Minyard hired him to review the deaths. Baden said he has not been asked to appear before the the grand jury.
Minyard has testified in the case. So have two investigators for the Louisiana attorney general's office.
CNN has learned a third nurse, not charged in the investigation, has also testified, saying she accompanied Pou on the seventh floor of the hospital to make sure all the patients left behind were deceased.
Dalton Savwoir, a spokesman for the district attorney's office, said the slow movement of the case is intentional.
"It's definitely still in the investigatory phase," Savwoir told CNN. He would not confirm the witness list and refused to speculate on whether the two accused nurses have been offered immunity if they testify.
© 2007 Cable News Network.
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