Shortly after Hurricane Katrina an investigation was opened into “Mercy killings” at local hospitals. This fictional scene follows Dr. Laura Callon as she maneuvers through her trial and the day that Katrina hit as well as the days after. She goes through the memories of the levees breaking, the hospital filling with water, the generators not working, the doctors and nurses leaving and the moment that she was confronted by one of the family members of one of the patients that died during the storm at the hospital. It is an emotional conversation on both sides where we see the pain of the loss of a loved one but we also begin to understand why the mercy killings may have been humane. This scene opens up the doors to the conversation of people making life and death decisions in an instant and what the aftermath can look like. We go from past to present as Dr. Callon stand by her decisions given her circumstances. In a courtroom that is against her, families that are against her, coworkers that don’t even stay long enough to assist. Hard decisions were made by her that day and as the verdict is being handed down will she be found guilty or not guilty of first-degree murder or will the jury understand that walking a mile in someone else’s’ shoes can sometimes mean literally walking through a hellish storm. Katrina is a name that will never be forgotten in American History.
