Five Days at Memorial

First off, Cherry and Vera are fantastic in this. After the pandemic, watching this story gives me chills. Such a good story to be told. Highly recommend.

Dark and brilliant docudrama, or is it dramadocu, that takes a good hard look at how humans fare in crisis, showing the best of us and the worst, but most importantly showing our prismatic human reaction to inevitable death. There is no editorializing here, which makes it so profound. Depending on your moral ground you'll pick your own heroes and villains, and wonder what you might have done.

I like the fact that they keep out of politics and moralizing and let the audience makes it's own decisions.

The acting is superb, the dialog is real, the Direction doesn't flinch, and a for sure Emmy winner.

Let's get this straight, there are people to blame here. But the doctors who were left to FEND FOR THEMSELVES and their patients are not them. There's NO evacuation plan, are you kidding me. So you've got people on the board and CEO's making millions, where were they in on these charges?? Oh that's right they bailed before the levees broke. They knew for years their hospital could easily flood. They did NOTHING! The government did NOTHING! They were stranded, scared and overwhelmed to say the least.

So you've got hundreds of patients, hundred degree building, no food, no meds, no water, no way of getting out for some of them. Doctors who've had no sleep for 5 days and trying to be responsible for everyone. Have a helipad with hundreds of steps through the hospital and stairs to reach it. Yes there are many to blame but is sure as heck wasn't one single doctor. When they're told you have 12 hours to evactuate everyone, still no one to help move patients that weigh 500lbs. Instead of yelling to get them out he'll them!! They offered ZERO help they just barked orders. What were they supposed to do?? Leave the patients alone to die of starvation in the next week that followed?? Just imagine that for a minute. Let's get one thing straight. It's inhumane to let your pets suffere but against the law to afford your loved ones the same humane death. They're not allowed any say in their last days, they're not allowed to ease suffering, they're allowed no grace or dignity in their death. People who think the doctors straight up murdered people need a good swift kick in the face. Get over yourself, I'd sure like to see how you hollier than thou would've handled this situation. My guess is you'd have been gone before the first drop of rain. If by chance you were there when the levees broke you'd have clawed your way to that first chopper or that first boat! And you know it! This was a tragedy all around and one that people have to remember and have nightmares about the rest of their lives! There is nothing anyone could've done any differently... Except generators in the middle of the building and evacuation plan that was much needed and a government who paid attention and helped! This does not fall on one doctor not at all and it sure isn't a race thing. Had they punished the good doctors who stayed behind you can bet none would ever stay again. Who could blame them? Not me. Is it sad? Absolutely! I can't imagine how scared everyone must've been. And how heartbreaking it was to have NO OPTIONS. They did their job to the best of their ability with what they had. Period! They stayed when everyone else fled. Period! They saved hundreds. Period! Take the ones doing the accusing and lock them in a hospital for 5 days with no air and no provisions let's see how they feel about this. And the doctors and nurses taking the prosecution's side, where was their problem solving? What did they do the last day to help? Did they have an alternative for the patients, THEIR patients that they left behind?? Seems that answer is a resounding no!

You might binge watch this, but the story is very intense and you really need a break after an episode. I watched the first two together and the others separately. My comments are only on these first four. The acting is excellent. The Direction is excellent. The story is heartbreaking. Local authority is unprepared and non existent. The lack of local, state and federal assistance is criminal. A hard lesson that hopefully improved every hospital emergency plan as well as individual, family, corporate, local, state and federal emergency plans dealing with any disaster. You feel drained after watching each of the first four episodes.

I didn't fully comprehend the human suffering or issues at hand back in 2005, in part to being in my early 20s and also slightly jaded from being in the military-where we always help and leaving people is unfathomable. Watching this show, well... I've had to watch in bite size pieces. It literally nauseates me and gives me such anxiety.

The despair. The decisions being made. The decisions being made because of the despair. It was a no win situation. I can't imagine having to decide between my life, another's life, whether leaving them behind is the answer, or helping them go quicker to ease pain and suffering. It really puts the Hippocratic oath to test-first do no harm, right? Very subjective. If the harm is that the patient will be left behind to die, then helping to end that suffering is the right choice, right? But they could survive, we don't know if more help will come tomorrow once we evacuate, right? Is there a right? Is there a wrong? The only wrong during the aftermath of Katrina, was doing nothing. And we saw a whole lot of that, as we see here in this docuseries.

I can't imagine. I just can't.

The loss of the pets; first, I don't comprehend how there were pets in a hospital in the first place. All I know? If it came to leaving my best friend (4 legs) to fend for herself, putting her down, or staying with her to surely die myself... I know which I'd chose-the one I could live with, no matter how short that would make my own life.

I'm so sorry to those who lost loved ones, who had to witness such despair, or make such gut wrenching decisions. Perseverance isn't for the faint of heart.

This show, sucks.