Memorial Medical Center in Uptown New Orleans was supposed to be a shelter from the storm, but after Hurricane Katrina struck in August 2005, Memorial Hospital became embroiled in a storm of controversy when 45 corpses were found after the evacuation, some of them allegedly victims of a well-regarded doctor and two respected nurses accused of hastening the death of some patients by injecting them with lethal doses of drugs.Five Days at Memorialchronicles the ungodly first five days inside Memorial Medical Center after the floodwaters of Hurricane Katrina marooned the hospital, knocked out power and running water, and sent the temperatures inside rocketing above 100 degrees, forcing staffers to smash windows to ventilate the building.
TheApple TV+original series, based onSheri Fink’s non-fiction book of the same name,exposes the harrowing decisions made by doctors and nurses who had to decide which patients should be evacuated first and which should go last and, excruciatingly, which patients are beyond treatment and should simply be put out of their suffering. At a time that has seen hospitals, doctors, and nurses overwhelmed by massive medical emergencies like the COVID-19 pandemic,Five Days at Memorialposes the still relevant question: where is the line between appropriate comfort care and mercy killing? It’s a life and death discussion that calls for the authentic reenactment of those five frantic days at Memorial and it’s brought to life by a cast of actors known for playing complex characters caught in physically and morally fraught situations. Let’s take a look at the key characters and the actors who play them inFive Days at Memorial.
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Vera Farmigaas Anna Pou
“There is nothing else to do for them except to make them comfortable,” saysDr. Anna Pouas played byVera Farmigain thetrailer forFive Days at Memorial.Dr. Pou was the well-respected head-and-neck surgeon accused of lethally injecting patients deemed too weak to survive the evacuation and the lack of continued, specialized treatment. Working for days with scarcely an hour’s sleep in the dim light powered by a portable generator, Dr. Pou organized triage that determined which patients should be evacuated first and last. In the aftermath of Katrina, witnesses testified to seeing Pou inject patients with morphine and midazolam, an act viewed by some as euthanasia, or worse, homicide. “All I did was try to help people. That’s all I did,” the character says in the trailer.
Vera Farmiga is an Academy Award-nominated actress and a horror icon, acclaimed for bringing nuance and depth to her portrayal of paranormal investigator Lorraine Warren inThe Conjuringmoviesand the mother of teenaged Norman Bates inBates Motel, the modernized prequel toAlfred Hitchcock’sPsycho.Adept at playing complex, conflicted characters, Farmigaportrayed apsychiatrist in love witha young cop(Leonardo DiCaprio)inMartin Scorsese’s Best Picture Oscar winnerThe Departedand the former New York assistant District Attorney who led the prosecution in the Central Park Five case inNetflix’sWhen They See Us.
Cherry Jonesas Susan Mulderick
“After we survived Hurricane Katrina, we thought that we could survive anything, but we were wrong,”Susan Mulderick(as portrayed byCherry Jones) says in the trailer. Mulderick was the nursing director and ‘‘emergency-incident commander’’ in charge of directing hospital operations during Katrina. As chairwoman of the hospital’s emergency-preparedness committee, Mulderick had helped draft Memorial’s 246-page emergency plan, which unfortunately did not cover complete power failure or how to evacuate the hospital if the streets were flooded. According to Fink’s book, Mulderick at first spoke to Pou about euthanizing pets because the rescuers refused to save them. Mulderick then suggested Pou should consider administering a combination of morphine and benzodiazepines to the patients who were dying.
Emmy and Tony winner Cherry Jones plays the highly capable Susan Mulderick. Memorable for her many roles as formidable women in male-dominated worlds, Jones was nominated for an Emmy for her guest appearance as media mogul Nan Pierce on theHBO seriesSuccession. She has already won two Emmys for her performance on24as President Allison Taylor and her performance onThe Handmaid’s Taleas Offred’s mother. She got her first Tony Award for her performance in the 1995 Broadway revival ofThe Heiressand her second Tony for her performance in the 2005 original production ofDoubt.
Cornelius Smith Jr. as Bryant King
Cornelius Smith Jr.playsDr. Bryant King,the internal medicine specialist who, according to Fink’s book,strongly objectedwhen a colleague asked what he thought of ending the patients’ suffering. “I disagree 100%,” he said, believing that hastening death was not a doctor’s job. While King said he did not witness any acts of euthanasia,he told CNNthat he believes “there were things done that shouldn’t have been done."
Actor Cornelius Smith Jr.has said, “Obviously, the subject matter of what we’re dealing with is very heavy, and we did our best to bring some authenticity and truth to it.” He is no stranger to playing characters in moral quandaries and crisis situations. He is best known for his series-regular role as Marcus Walker onABC’sScandal.He also plays abolitionist Frederick Douglass in the musicalAmerican Prophet.
Robert Pine as Horace Baltz
Robert PineplaysDr. Horace Baltz, one of the oldest and longest-serving medical staff members at Memorial. According to Fink’s book, Baltz was firmly against euthanasia and was upset to see Dr. Bryant King on CNN speaking out about the suspicious deaths at Memorial until he remembered doctors talking about some patients who couldn’t make it out on their own and would need to be “helped.”
Robert Pineis most famous for portraying the popular character of Sgt. Joseph Getraer in theNBC crime drama television showCHiPsand his roles in the moviesGunpoint,The Young Warriors,Journey to Shiloh, andThe Day of the Locust. Pine was recently featured in the independent filmFourth Grade,which is about the uproar that ensues when a brick of weed is found in a fourth-grade classroom.
Related:From Lorraine Warren to Norma Bates: 7 Essential Vera Farmiga Performances
Adepero Oduye as Karen Wynn
Karen Wynnwas Memorial’s ICU nurse manager and the head of its ethics committee and is played byAdepero Oduye. Heroic in rescuing patients, Wynn was unperturbed by rumors that patients were being euthanized. Withdrawing life support was part of the job in the ICU and the patients before her now were visibly suffering.
Adepero Oduye shines in social and historical dramas. She delivered one of 2011’s most talked about performances in the critically acclaimed filmPariah, whichMeryl Streephighlighted as one of her favorite performances of the year. Oduye co-starred alongsideChiwetel EjioforinSteve McQueen’s Best Picture award-winning12 Years a Slaveand played activist Nomsa Brath inAva DuVernay’sminiseriesWhen They See Us.
Julie Ann Emery as Diane Robichaux
Diane Robichauxwas the assistant administrator frantically coordinating the evacuation of the most critical patients when she learned, “They aren’t going to be evacuated. They aren’t going to leave.” A crucial witness for law enforcement, Robichaux recalled Mulderick telling them, “The plan is not to leave any living patients behind.” Robichaux was particularly worried about how to evacuate 61-year-old patient Emmett Everett, who was conscious but weighed 380 pounds and was paralyzed. He would be among those found dead from a lethal injection of morphine.
Julie Ann Emeryis best known for her breakout role as Betsy Kettleman inBetter Call Saul. She was a series regular inPreacherand played Ida Thurman in the award-winning miniseriesFargo.
Michael Gaston as Arthur “Butch” Schafer
Michael GastonplaysArthur “Butch” Schafer, the assistant attorney general and lead prosecutor in the Memorial case. As part of the state’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, it was Schafer’s job to investigate the abuse, neglect, and exploitation of Louisiana’s most vulnerable.
Michael Gaston has appeared in more than twenty films includingSteven Spielberg’sBridge of Spies,Paul Schrader’sFirst Reformed, andOliver Stone’sW. He has also had roles in prestigious TV dramas includingThe Sopranos,The West Wing,Prison Break, andThe Leftovers.
Molly Hager as Virginia Rider
Special agentVirginia Riderserved as the tenacious lead investigator in the Memorial case. She had felt moral outrage at the Memorial medics who she believed euthanized patients without their consent and would go on to doggedly investigate Pou until her arrest.
Molly Hageris an actress and writer best known for her roles inBotox Angels,Indoor Boys,Happyish, andIt’s Kind of a Funny Story.Hager was an original cast member of Broadway’sWaitressand the Off-Broadway cult hitHeathers: The Musical.
