Return to Transcripts main page

Live From...

Hospital Deaths; 'Reporter's Notebook'; Ambassador Bolton Speaks on Mideast Crisis; British Open Update

Aired July 20, 2006 - 13:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: War correspondent, sounds glamorous, which it's so not, and dangerous, which it very much is.
CNN's Anderson Cooper shares his Reporter's Notebook from Israel.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): It has been a day of bloodshed already.

Reporting from this region, it's not like working anywhere else. It's a pressure cooker, one photographer said to me. It just never lets up. You hear the rockets land before you actually see them. In Israel sirens give you some warning, of course. But often, it's not enough.

This home was hit by one of Hezbollah's Katyusha rockets. When you see the damage, you realize these women were lucky to be alive.

When we hear an explosion, we jump into our van, try to get to the scene as quickly as possible. We've all seen the pictures, but they don't capture fully what it's really like, the smoke in the air, the adrenaline racing through your veins, the fear, the pain that deepens into resolve.

(On camera): Now another siren has just gone off.

(Voice-over): We were at the scene of this explosion when the sirens started to sound again. We took cover along the side of a building and heard more rockets land. When we got to the spot, they were taking some women out of a collapsed apartment building. No one died here, though.

On Sunday at this train depot, eight people died. You can see the hole in the roof the missile made. There was blood all over the concrete, shiny pools of it. These men were picking up pieces of the bodies. After a while, it all threatens to become routine. You have to fight against that, though. Sometimes you see all that's around you. Sometimes you just want to close your eyes.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: And Anderson Cooper will have more reporting from the Middle East tonight. "A.C. 360" airs at 10:00 p.m. Eastern.

Back in American after a terrifying week in Lebanon, evacuees begin arriving at the Baltimore airport. And CNN is there.

You'll be there, too, when LIVE FROM continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: We're not going to leave any living patients behind. The apparent sentiment in New Orleans Memorial Hospital during Hurricane Katrina as noted in the arrest warrants for three hospital workers on four counts of second-degree murder. In one warrant, Dr. Anna Pou is quoted as saying, "A decision had been made to administer lethal doses of drugs to patients unable to be evacuated from the hospital's seventh floor. That same document says doctor Pou took full responsibility and told staff they did a great job in taking care of the patients. Four of those patients were later found with lethal levels of morphine, and a central nervous system depressant known as Verset (ph).

Here to defend the doctor is her attorney Rick Simmons. And, Rick, let me just start right off and ask you if indeed your client takes full responsibility for what happened at Memorial Hospital during Hurricane Katrina.

RICK SIMMONS, DR. POU'S ATTY.: Well, I don't think there's any criminal conduct as far as responsibility. I think she acted as best she could under the circumstances, which were very horrific, as you've noted by a lot of your reports in the past. I just don't think that this is a situation that is -- a case that's a second-degree murder case, by any means, and I don't think there's any criminal misconduct.

PHILLIPS: Let me ask you about Charles Foti, the D.A. He says that the four dead patients, ages 62, 66, 89, and 90, had these, quote, "lethal cocktails" in their systems. Do you know if any one of these patients, any one of these four patients that I just named, in any way told Dr. Pou that they wanted to die, versus trying to survive what was happening at the hospital during the storm?

SIMMONS: Well, not in the position to start rebutting everything in this affidavit that the attorney general presented to the public. It's going to have to be tested as to who said what, and I'm just not in a position to do that...

PHILLIPS: It's in the papers...

SIMMONS: I've asked for medical records, autopsies and things like and I've received, so I can't respond to a lot of what they're saying, other than that there's no misconduct here, other than a doctor in a horrific circumstances after working for five days trying to save patients. And her reputation is just totally contrary to this. This is not some doctor who just suddenly went off the deep end and did something like second-degree murder, which is being presented by Foti -- excuse me, Attorney General Foti in his press conference. He trampled on the presumption of innocence in that conference.

PHILLIPS: Well, let's get to a piece of what Foti said in that news conference, and I'll get you to respond, Rick. Here's what he said. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHARLES FOTI, LA. ATTY. GEN.: We're talking about people that intended -- maybe they were God and they made that decision. I think the patients would have lived through it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: What do you think? Do you think those patients would have lived through that storm?

SIMMONS: Well, first, as far as playing God, I don't think prosecutor should do that either. I believe that the records will have to be examined, but the condition of these patients, we think, is going to be the issue. And I certainly don't think these patients are as described by the attorney general. These are acute care patients, elderly. But I really don't want to get into -- for sensitivity reasons for the families involved in this case. But these are victims of the storms, not victims of homicides.

PHILLIPS: Well, let's talk about your client's reputation. Our Drew Griffin, who has been working this story, and I know you've talked to him a number of times...

SIMMONS: Yes.

PHILLIPS: ... did get an exclusive interview with your client's brother and sister. Here's a little bit of that exclusive interview with Dr.. Pou's sister, Peggy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PEGGY PERINO, DR. POU'S SISTER: I don't remember the nurse's name, but she said, I just want to tell you that Dr. Pou was the most incredible -- I don't know if I ever told you this -- was the most incredible person that you'd ever seen, that if it weren't for her, nobody would have made it out, that she took complete control of the whole situation. She gave orders. You know, all the children that had come with their families to evacuate there, she had them fanning the elderly people, you know, just anything that anyone could do. She had everybody organized with a job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Tell me about Dr. Pou's reputation in the medical field, Rick.

SIMMONS: Well, I think it's been the subject of a lot of e- mails. We've been receiving all kind of support. It's sort of overwhelming to see the response around the community, not just the medical community here, for support for not only Dr. Pou, for these two nurses. And they've all been professionals for a long time, and their reputation is one of people that are just not capable of this type of act.

PHILLIPS: We've been talking about this affidavit and these four patients that died and how your client is tied into this. But we haven't talked about any specific numbers about lives that she may have saved. Did you gather those numbers? Can you give me personal stories of lives she saved?

SIMMONS: Well, I think that the -- there was a whole bunch of people who got rescued. She had her patients that got out. On Tuesday night there was a bunch of prenatal and recently born babies that were evacuated. On Wednesday, there was -- I think there was over 200 or so in the hospital altogether. So no one's focused on the number of patients. And I don't have an exact count that were successfully evacuated.

The problem is, the state of Louisiana abandoned this hospital on Wednesday and Thursday. And if they had been there earlier, perhaps that would have been the salvation of this whole situation, to get these people out earlier. But nothing happened.

It was a total abandonment by city, federal and state government. And leaving these doctors and nurses to do the best they can under the circumstances. And that's what they did. And the actions here are not tantamount to any second degree murder. And for which these type people will be sentenced to life imprisonment without the benefit of pardon and parole.

PHILLIPS: Final question, and you bring up the point -- just off of what you just said. Let me just pose a hypothetical. Let's say that these four patients -- ages 62, 66, 89, and 90 -- let's just say they knew they were dying, and they saw what was happening around them. And they, in their minds, were thinking, look, resources could be put toward other patients. I'm just going to tell Dr. Pou, I'm just going to tell these nurses, take me out, I don't even want to try and endure this, considering the situation that I'm in. Let's just say that happened, hypothetical. Do you think that Dr. Pou would be in the right, then, to help them carry out their wishes?

SIMMONS: Well, let me put this way. I'm not going to respond to hypothetical situations as to what may or may not have happened. I think we're going to defend the actions of what did actually occur. But Dr. Pou is not some doctor who is on a crusade, talk about assisted suicide or anything like that. That's not what happened here. You're talking about doctors and nurses who were put in a horrific circumstances to try to make decisions and do the best they could to care -- avoid pain and suffering.

And I think THAT the public just has to wait and see for all the facts to come out and to suggest hypotheticals of what should or should not be done. This isn't a crusade about any particular type of medical issue. It's whether there WAS some criminal intent by these doctors and nurses, or the doctor and two nurses, in connection with the treatment of these patients...

PHILLIPS: We'll follow the case...

SIMMONS: Under these circumstances.

PHILLIPS: Absolutely. We'll follow the case and we'll talk to you again. Rick Simmons, thanks so much.

SIMMONS: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Want to get straight to U.N. Ambassador John Bolton, speaking now live. Let's listen in. Regarding the Middle East crisis.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

QUESTION: ... the last 48 hours watching the news from the Mideast, it seems more and more apparent now that many in the Middle East, Lebanese and others, are accusing the United States and the Security Council of being really the obstacle to a real cease-fire immediately, because that's what they need. Could you explain in a couple of words what is really your position, Ambassador?

JOHN BOLTON, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N.: Look. I think we could have a cessation of hostilities immediately if Hezbollah would stop terrorizing innocent civilians and give up the kidnapped Israeli soldiers. So to the extent this crisis continues, the cause is Hezbollah.

How you get a cease-fire between one entity which is a government of a democratically elected state, on the one hand, and another entity, on the other, which is a terrorist gang, no one has yet explained.

The government of Israel, everybody says, has a right to exercise the right of self-defense, which even if there are criticisms of Israeli actions by some, they recognize the fundamental right to self- defense. That's a legitimate right.

Are there any activities that Hezbollah engages in militarily that are legitimate? I don't think so. All of its activities are terrorist, and all of them are illegitimate.

So I don't see the balance or the parallelism between the two sides. And therefore I think it's a very fundamental question how a terrorist group agrees to a cease-fire.

You know, in a democratically elected government the theory is that the people ultimately can hold the government accountable when it does something and doesn't live up to it. How do you hold a terrorist group accountable? Who runs the terrorist group? Who makes the commitment that the terrorist group will abide by a cease-fire? What does a terrorist group think a cease-fire is?

And you can use the words "cessation of hostilities" or "truce" or "cease-fire." Nobody's yet explained how a terrorist group and a democratic state come to a mutual cease-fire.

QUESTION: Can you address the op-ed by Voinovich today in The Washington Post?

BOLTON: Well, I spoke to Senator Voinovich last night. He called me and we eventually got back to each other at about 8:30. And he informed me that he was going to be having this op-ed, and I certainly expressed my appreciation.

As he says in his piece, he and I have had a lot of conversations over the past year. Right after President Bush appointed me, Senator Voinovich called and said: Look, you know I opposed your nomination, but U.N. reform is very important to me, and I want to continue to work with you. And I want to continue to work with you.

And I thought, at the time, that must have been a hard call for Senator Voinovich to make. But we are interested in U.N. reform. And I felt that if he were prepared to work with me, I was prepared to work with him. I valued his assistance. He's interested in a wide range of other issues in foreign policy -- the Balkans and the Middle East, to name two.

So we've been in quite regular touch over the course of the past year. He's been up to New York, as you know. I visit him in Washington. We've talked on the phone. I mean, obviously, I'm very glad he's come to the decision, and I certainly welcome his support.

QUESTION: The Israeli ambassador has basically said, regarding the length of military activities, it will take as long as it will take.

Is this a statement that the United States would back up?

BOLTON: The statement that I made in the consultations was we want something that leads to a sustainable, long-term cessation of hostilities consistent with the foundation for peace.

That means that there's an important sequence of events here, there are important political preconditions. Nobody wants anything other than a long-term cessation of hostilities.

But it has to be done the right way or you risk finding yourself exactly back in the situation we were before the kidnapping of the Israeli soldiers.

That's not good for the people of Israel. Perhaps even more importantly, it's not good for the people of Lebanon. We're in an unfortunate situation, but the cause is Hezbollah. The cause is Hezbollah.

QUESTION: What tools does the U.N. have and what tools do you think it should use to exercise pressure on Syria regarding this crisis?

BOLTON: Well I think -- and we've said this repeatedly at all levels of the U.S. government -- that we hope one positive outcome from this crisis will be the full implementation of 1559.

President Bush has spoken about protecting the fragile democracy in Lebanon. And I think that building up the institutions of the government of Lebanon, and now particularly the Lebanese armed forces -- so that they can assume full sovereign control over all Lebanese territory -- is critical. And we want to work with the government of Lebanon. I'm sure this is something Secretary Rice has spent a considerable amount of time thinking about -- how we can turn this difficult situation into something positive.

QUESTION: About Iran, sir, in that meeting this morning, a couple things about that. What do you think the prospects are for getting this adopted this week, which you said you wanted? And what's your reaction to the Russian proposed amendments?

Do you sense any sort of their effort to sort of peddle back a little bit from St. Petersburg and sort of dial back from the commitment they made there?

BOLTON: I'm certainly thinking of how I'm going to answer the question how is it you didn't succeed in getting your instructions fulfilled of getting the resolution this week? It's now Thursday; I'm not quite sure how we're doing to do this by Friday.

But creative minds might yet find a way through.

I think we did have a discussion this morning that brought us a little bit forward. We're going to have an experts meeting this afternoon among the PERM 5 and Germany to consider two important parts of the resolution, and we'll meet again tomorrow.

So obviously, we've got the crisis in the Middle East that we're addressing at the same time, but I'm hoping that we'll continue to make progress.

QUESTION: On the Russian proposals, those proposed amendments, what were your thoughts on them? They appeared to significantly weaken the proposal that had been put forward earlier by yourselves and France and Britain.

BOLTON: We'll see if the United States can play a bridging role between the European Union and the Russians, and see if we can't help resolve this and get a resolution that's satisfactory to all of us.

PHILLIPS: U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., John Bolton, responding to reporters' questions about what's happening in the Middle East. Once again, not saying anything new, sticking to his statement that Hezbollah is the reason this conflict continues, that Hezbollah is a terrorist group, and how do you hold a terrorist group accountable and even attempt to ceasefire with a group like Hezbollah?

We're going to continue to follow what comes out of the U.N. and, of course, he mentioned that resolution passed in 2004 about the Lebanese government having to disarm Hezbollah. That's the challenge that the countries face at this point.

Well, cut off by the conflict, food, water, medicine, all in short supply, a half million Lebanese refugees now homeless. What about them? Our coverage from the Mideast continues straight ahead on LIVE FROM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Carol Lin working a developing story for us in the newsroom -- Carol.

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: We just got news on the Barry Bonds case, the Barry Bonds investigation. According to a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's Office in the northern district of California, Barry Bonds is not going to be indicted today.

According to the Associated Press, that -- the Attorney's Office is going to extend the grand jury that is investigating Barry Bonds for lying to the grand jury about steroid use and also on tax evasion charges, that he didn't pay taxes on baseball memorabilia that he sold.

But the steroid debate is not over, and according to a statement by the U.S. Attorney's Office that CNN has obtained, it says that it is "not going to seek this indictment against Barry Bonds in connection with the ongoing steroids-related investigation. We will continue to move forward actively in this investigation, including continuing to seek the truthful testimony of witnesses whose testimony the grand jury is entitled to hear."

Kyra, as you might recall, back in 2003, Barry Bonds was asked to testify about steroid abuse in major league baseball before a grand jury. He said that he was clean. He said it under oath, even though he would have had immunity from prosecution if he had admitted to steroid abuse.

His personal trainer, however, refused to testify against Barry Bonds or testify anything to the effect of Barry Bonds taking steroids. And he pled guilty to steroid distribution in a case that was being investigated of a Bay Area company accused of distributing steroids to ballplayers.

Kyra, I know it's a lot of information, but the significance is that Barry Bonds is not going to be indicted today, investigation ongoing.

PHILLIPS: All right. Got it. We'll stay, of course, on top of that case. Thanks a lot, Carol.

Across the pond, it's simply The Open. The rest of us call it the British Open, and it's underway just outside of Liverpool. CNN's Patrick Snell is standing by at the Royal Liverpool Golf Club. Quite a beautiful place to be. He's lucky to have the assignment. Hey, Patrick.

PATRICK SNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra. Thanks. Welcome to northwest England. You know, record crowds, sweltering temperatures, Wednesday, the hottest July day ever on record as far as this country is concerned. I can personally assure you, quite sweltering indeed.

Well, how's it been affecting the players? The world's number one, Tiger Woods, off to a really poor start by his own very high standards. He's the defending champion here at Hoylake, and he missed an absolute tiddler on the very first green. That immediately set him back and he went to one over par, but he did steady the ship somewhat and later on in his round Thursday, he was two under par.

What about the world number two, another California native, Phil Mickelson, the reigning Masters champion? He returned a very, very impressive effort, indeed, a three under par 69 to really get his challenge going. Now, there may be no Mickelslam, of course, on the cards for him, but there is the huge incentive of a first-ever British Open title.

Well, so much for the fortunes of the big two on the field of play. What about the musical exploits now of another larger than life character? I'm talking, of course, about a former British Open champion, Big John Daly.

Now, he's been taking in some of the local traditions here in this part of the world and breathing in some Beatles culture, the American showing off his talents at the famous Cavern Club on the city's Mathew Street district, a welcome distraction too for the wild thing, whose wife Sherrie was actually recently released from jail after her part in a drugs ring and illegal gambling operation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN DALY, 1995 BRITISH OPEN CHAMPION: Everything's moderation pretty much now. I still gamble a little bit, I still drink. But, you know, raising four kids isn't easy. So, I mean, especially, you know, my wife finally came home and it's kind of -- everything's kind of calmed down where she's kind of looking after the kids and I can get on with -- a little more concentration on the golf.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SNELL: And for the record, Kyra, John Daly shooting a respectable, level par 72 on this opening day of the 2006 British Open.

PHILLIPS: He's quite a character. Patrick Snell, thanks so much.

Well, here's a bit of British Open trivia for you. The first open was played in 1860, three rounds of golf on a 12-hole course. Who won? The answer straight ahead on LIVE FROM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com