‘Five Days At Memorial’ Preview: Susan & Karen Make Painful Calls To Families Of Patients
Susan and Karen have to make difficult calls to the families of patients who died at the hospital in this emotional EXCLUSIVE preview of the new episode of ‘Five Days At Memorial.’
The storm has passed, but the aftermath remains. In this EXCLUSIVE preview of the September 2 episode of Five Days At Memorial, Susan Mulderick and Karen Wynn are tasked with calling the families of patients who died at the hospital during Hurricane Katrina.
Susan calls the daughter of a patient to confirm that her mother “died at the hospital between the hurricane and the evacuation of patients from the facility.” Meanwhile, Karen apologizes to another patient’s loved one. “I’m so sorry this took two weeks.”
As Susan continues to talk to the patient’s daughter, she reads from a script provided to her. She tells the loved one that her mother was placed in the chapel. “Your loved one was treated with dignity,” she says.
The daughter begins asking questions about why her mother wasn’t evacuated ahead of the storm. Reading from her notes, Susan says that evacuations were based on the “risk to the patient.” More questions continue to be asked, and Susan doesn’t have the answers.
Susan listens to the daughter cry on the phone as the weight of the news settles in. “I am very sorry,” Susan says.
Susan and Karen were at Memorial Medical Center when Hurricane Katrina hit. The doctors, nurses, and patients faced grueling and horrific conditions while trying to survive with little to no electricity, clean water, or running air conditioning for days. The hospital faced intense scrutiny after 45 corpses were found, and an investigation was ordered into the deaths of certain patients.
Vera Farmiga, who plays Dr. Anna Pou, told HollywoodLife that she hopes viewers have “compassion for everyone” who had to experience this tragedy. “Viewers will feel what it was like to be [there] in multiple perspectives in these characters’ shoes. They will feel it viscerally. That’s the great power of the series,” she said. “But I hope they do have compassion for everyone who went through it: the doctors, the nurses, the staff at Memorial, the patients, the families that were there, the people that were seeking shelter. I do want them to have that compassion.” New episodes of Five Days At Memorial premiere Fridays on Apple TV+.