Pulitzer Prize-winning author Dr. Sheri Fink joined us to talk about the television adaptation of her award-winning book "Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital," which starts streaming on Aug. 12 on Apple TV+.
Fink documented a terrifying true story set in New Orleans in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Patients too sick to evacuate Memorial Hospital during the storm were left in the care of several providers who stayed behind to care for the most vulnerable population. The hurricane passed and everything seemed okay, but the next day, all communication went down, there was no electricity because the hospital generators are underwater, the city was entirely flooded and the hospital was an inaccessible island totally surrounded by infested dirty water.
With no one immediately available to rescue the staff and patients left behind, the building grew swelteringly hot and humid, overcome with odor and supplies ran short. Providers made life-changing (and some life-ending) decisions that garnered national attention.
"Five Days at Memorial" chronicles what happened next.
Guest: Dr. Sheri Fink, Pulitzer Prize-winning author and producer.
