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Louisiana Supreme Court considers case to make Memorial records public

Louisiana Supreme Court justices on Monday heard arguments about whether to release most of the investigative file compiled by former Attorney General Charles Foti as he probed the deaths at Memorial Medical Center after Hurricane Katrina.

The Times-Picayune and CNN sought the records after a state grand jury declined to indict Dr. Anna Pou with murder and conspiracy to commit murder last year. Foti arrested Pou and two nurses in July 2006, saying they killed patients with lethal combinations of morphine and Versed.

Attorneys for Pou and the nurses always denied the allegation, saying they were helping treat very sick people in harsh conditions.

Lori Mince, the attorney for the newspaper and cable network, argued to the justices that the public has a right to know if the investigation conducted by Foti was fair and about the deaths of 34 people at the hospital in the chaotic days after the storm.

"How is the public to look at what was done?" Mince asked.

The public records law shields records from view when criminal litigation is pending or "reasonably anticipated." Mince said a criminal probe is not reasonably anticipated, given that the Orleans Parish district attorney's office has said it will no longer pursue the case, as did Foti after the grand jury rejected pressing charges against Pou.

But Attorney General Buddy Caldwell, who aggressively criticized Foti's probe of Pou during his campaign, argued to the justices that the investigative file needed to be kept closed because an investigation could still occur in the future.

Caldwell noted that there are still three civil lawsuits pending against Pou and the former Memorial hospital owners. These cases could result in information being uncovered that needs to be criminally investigated, he said.

"I agree with the district attorney that the case against Dr. Pou is probably over," Caldwell said. But after the hearing, he said that his office at some point might end up investigating a case of Medicare fraud or cruelty to elderly people as a result of information that eventually comes to light.

But Mince, who was repeatedly pressed by the justices about the possibility of a future criminal indictment by either a New Orleans Parish district attorney or the attorney general's office, said that the public records law only shields records if an investigation is about to happen, not if it can possibly happen.

Pauline Hardin, an attorney for medical employees who were at Memorial and were interviewed by the attorney general's office during the investigation, argued that many of the documents in the investigation are protected by grand jury secrecy.

Her clients talked to the attorney general's office with the expectation the material would be used before a state grand jury and, therefore, shielded from public view, she argued. Louisiana Supreme Court justices on Monday heard arguments about whether to release most of the investigative file compiled by... more

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Health officials advising some to steer clear of pools

"In light of increasing infections of Cryptosporidium, Dallas County Health and Human Services is recommending that anyone with suppressed immune systems avoid swimming in public pools or using water parks.

Since June, Dallas County has recorded 41 cases of cryptosporidiosis, the illness caused by Cryptosporidium. The Dallas County medical examiner's office is investigating whether the death Monday of a 6-year-old Richardson girl is related. Laboratory tests in her case could take at least six weeks to complete.

DCHHS spokeswoman Jacqueline M. Bell said this week that the normal rate of crypto infections in Dallas County is eight to 10 a month during the summer.

Collin County has also seen an increase this year. At least 15 confirmed cases of cryptosporidiosis have been reportedly recently.

Tarrant County officials have confirmed 67 cases related to Fort Worth's Burger's Lake, which reopened Sunday after treatment.

The illness can be spread through contaminated water, such as swimming pools. Symptoms can include diarrhea, abdominal cramping, vomiting and dehydration that can last up to two weeks.

Several cities have been "hyperchlorinating" municipal pools to kill the waterborne parasite or as a precautionary measure.

The city of Garland reopened Surf and Swim on Friday after chemically treating the water.

A swimmer who had visited the water park Sunday later tested positive for cryptosporidiosis, prompting the facility's closure on Thursday. Pools across the area have closed temporarily for precautionary hyperchlorination.

Collin County Health Care Services recommends that people not swim if they have diarrhea or have had diarrhea within the past two weeks. The department also says people should wash hands with soap and water before handling food and after changing diapers or using the toilet.

Health officials say those with weakened immune systems, pregnant women and young children may be more vulnerable to infection. In some cases, cryptosporidiosis can be fatal."

"In light of increasing infections of Cryptosporidium, Dallas County Health and Human Services is recommending that anyone... more

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Crap and Trade: Why public toilets should pay you

What? You've been giving away your urine for free?

Many of us haven't just been giving our waste away; we've been paying to unload it. Hundreds of cities have automated public toilets, known as APTs. In New York or Los Angeles, you drop in a quarter, and the door opens. But your quarter hardly pays the bills. New York's new APTs reportedly cost more than $100,000 apiece; Los Angeles' cost $300,000; Seattle installed five at a cost of $6.6 million. At 25 cents a flush, 20 to 130 times a day, a toilet brings in only $2,000 to $11,000 per year.

So how does the math work out? The Los Angeles Times explains:

In Los Angeles, the facilities are part of a 20-year contract between the city and a joint venture of two companies: CBS Outdoor and JCDecaux. The latter, a French firm, has installed thousands of the sleek units worldwide, mostly in exchange for the right to sell the ads that adorn them. It's a common model that is used by the majority of American cities looking to install the loos. L.A. is guaranteed $150 million in revenue over the course of the contract. … The companies foot the bill for installing all the structures, including the toilets, and for the maintenance on each.

So the company pays the city, and in exchange, the city provides your eyeballs. Do you get a cut? A free flush, at least? Nope. You pay.

The obvious argument for making you pay is that you're getting a service, too: a clean, private place to relieve yourself. If you can't find a john, you'll have to go in the street.

Last fall, New Delhi hosted the World Toilet Summit. At the meeting, experts estimated that 700 million Indians lacked access to proper toilets. "Defecating in the open can contaminate water supplies and spread diseases such as diarrhea," Reuters observed. Accordingly, India committed to increase its spending on rural sanitation by almost half, "building toilets for hundreds of millions of its poor and homeless." The country's minister of rural development pledged, "By 2012, India will be free of defecation in the open."

Residents of Saliyar Street in Musiri are getting paid for using toilets. While people elsewhere have to hastily dig into their pockets and shell out a rupee or more to relieve themselves in a dingy public urinal, around 300 families in Musiri have found they can actually profit every time they answer nature's call. Essentially, the system serves two purposes. While it encourages people in the lower middle-class neighbourhood to use toilets, the urine collected goes for research to test its efficacy as a fertiliser.

The plan seems to be working:

Initially people in Saliyar street were amused when they heard about the use and earn facility. But now the queues are getting longer before the eco sanitation (ecosan) toilet. … Although it was the novelty of the project that initially attracted many, people have also realized the health benefits and stopped using public spaces to relieve themselves. ''Now even children in the locality do not urinate in the open, thanks to the 10 paise incentive," said [a local man].

Could a similar incentive work in the United States? Nobody's being paid to use public toilets, as far as I know. But some people get to use them for free. In Los Angeles, for example, the Times reports, "All of the APTs in the city, except two on skid row, charge a quarter for each use." Why the skid-row exception? Two reasons seem pretty clear. First, homeless people don't spend quarters lightly, if they have them at all. Second, if the city doesn't give them a free indoor place to relieve themselves, they'll use a free outdoor place: the street...

----In India, it pays to use public toilets------
http://current.com/items/89082209_in_india_it_pays_to_use_public_toiletsWhat? You've been giving away your urine for free? Many of us haven't just been giving our waste away; we've... more