Chappaquiddick on Bayou St. John – New Orleans, La.
Michelle M. Haensel Memorial Web Site
The LSU Medical System Story
A Breach of Public Trust
The actions of LSUMC (now known as the LSU Health Science Center -
LSUHSC), LSU Medical School, LSU Dental School, and Charity Hospital (now known
as the Medical Center of Louisiana) leadership before and after the 1995
homicide of Michelle "Shelly" Haensel by LSU’s Christopher C. Nabors,
MD, DDS, PhD were incredulous. Unfortunately, their
actions and inactions were factual and well documented. The arrogant and reckless
use of power of the leadership was directed to help
their doctor avoid responsibility for his actions during criminal prosecution and
ultimately imprisonment. Many believe their actions were not to protect their
doctor but to avoid consequences to the institution and leadership for improper
administration of institutional rules. Each action taken individually may seem harmless and
coincidental. It is not any one action that causes concern. It is the pattern
and totality of all the actions and inactions by the LSU Medical System and Charity
Hospital leadership that causes great concern.
Charity Hospital and LSUMC (now
known as the LSU Health Science Center - LSUHSC), the institution that operates
the hospital, have been at the center of a series of actions to alter evidence
and help their convicted felon through special treatment. The incredible
actions of LSUHSC, Charity Hospital and their institutional subdivisions are
summed up as follows:
1.
Dr. Nabors was recruited by and under the supervision of the LSU Medical system
beginning in 1989. The
LSU Medical Center bulletin, their policy and procedures manual, and the student conduct
code and disciplinary procedure mandates the following:
a. The student shall not engage
in activity, either on or off campus, which is contrary to the best interest of
other students and/or the School …or which could be classified as unprofessional
conduct or other improper behavior, e.g. substance abuse, …, or other
inappropriate behavior.
b. The student exhibiting
inappropriate behavior or who is a substance abuser must be the subject of a
formal hearing.
c. The student is subject to
penalties which include disciplinary action, suspension, or expulsion.
The leadership must also require
that students who have substance abuse problems enter into a substance abuse
program in an LSU Medical system group known as the Phoenix Society, or be removed from the
teaching program. In a document submitted to the district criminal court on
March 19, 1996 after
sentencing by
Martha E. Brown, MD, an LSUMC psychiatrist, stated that it was widely known by
Dr. Nabors
friends and the
LSUHSC leadership that he was an alcoholic. Additionally, an
LSUHSC employee reported that a female
dental student filed a complaint against Dr. Nabors complaining about offensive
treatment of her. The record of this complaint has vanished from
LSUHSC records.
The
LSUHSC leadership was aware of this information about their student before
the February 17, 1995 homicide. The leadership decided to take no action.
Nabors confirmed some of the information reported by Dr. Martha E. Brown at sentencing when he submitted a statement to the court
that he was a lifelong practicing alcoholic and had not sought or considered
treatment for substance abuse. It must also be noted that as part of LSU Medical
System's
program, Nabors was a public employee and received an annual salary of $18,000
from the State of Louisiana.
2. Trial testimony revealed that on February 17, 1995, the night of the
homicide, LSU Medical school doctors and staff at Charity Hospital destroyed blood samples taken
from their friend, Dr. Nabors, and intended for drug and alcohol testing at
Charity Hospital. Later, the LSU Medical doctors altered blood samples given to
New Orleans Police for testing. Even Nabors attorney, John Wilson Reed, stated
in a written document to the trial court after the conviction that it was
obvious that medical personnel at Charity Hospital influenced the test results.
3. LSU Medical
System Chancellor, the LSU Medical School Dean, and the LSU Dental School dean refused to take action regarding the actions of their student after
the February 17, 1995 homicide. Nabors confirmed this at sentencing when he
submitted a statement to the court that he was a lifelong practicing alcoholic
and had not sought, did not consider, nor was required by leadership or
supervisors to enter a treatment
program for substance abuse before or after the homicide. There is no question
that the leadership was aware of the homicide as one of the LSU Medical School
physicians in charge of the dental
scientist program arranged for their attorney to meet Dr. Nabors at
Charity Hospital at 2:00 AM, shortly before the New Orleans Police arrived to obtain a
blood sample for blood alcohol testing. The
LSUHSC leadership again defied their
own requirements as described in numbered paragraph 1.
4. The LSU Medical
School awarded Nabors a medical degree on May 20, 1995 with full knowledge of
his criminal and social behavior. The
LSUHSC leadership lied to the victim’s family by
telling them they were doing a substance abuse investigation on Dr. Nabors. The
LSUHSC leadership lied a second time when they stated that Nabors would not be
allowed to graduate on stage. Years later they denied having done any
investigation even though one was required as described in paragraph 1 above.
5. In
July of 1995, five months after the homicide of Shelly Haensel, the LSU Medical
School admitted Dr. Nabors into their residency program at Charity Hospital, the same institution in which Dr.
Nabors fellow doctors helped him by
destroying and altering his blood samples after the homicide. It must be noted
that as part of the LSU Medical
School/Charity Hospital residency program, Dr. Nabors was a
public employee and received an annual salary of $31,000 from the State of
Louisiana.
6. The LSU Medical
School, the LSU
Dental School, and Charity Hospital defied criminal court subpoenas requesting
information regarding the LSUMC doctors who helped alter Dr. Nabors blood
sample. Only one Charity Hospital doctor was identified during the
investigation. Names of other LSU Medical
School doctors and staff who assisted Dr. Nabors at Charity Hospital
were withheld from criminal court so they would not have to testify about
Nabors apparent intoxication. Names of the LSU Medical
School doctors were later revealed
after the trial at sentencing by LSUMC's Dr. Nabors when he testified in
criminal court. He stated he got the names from the records. Neither Charity
Hospital nor LSU Medical or Dental Schools provided these records then or later to the Court or
New Orleans district
attorney.
Charity Hospital, LSU Medical School, and LSU Dental School
leadership,
and their institutional subdivisions, did supply these records to Dr. Nabors and his attorneys for
his defense. Although Dr. Nabors did not testify at his trial, he did testify at his sentencing nearly a year after the
homicide. In his testimony in court, he identified LSU Charity Hospital doctors Leland Cornelius Lenahan,
III, Daniel Salvatore Diaco, and Jean Alice Friday as the doctors who assisted
him when he arrived at the hospital emergency room on the morning of February
17, 1995 just after the homicide of Shelly Haensel. At the sentencing both
John Wilson Reed, Dr.
Nabors attorney, and the
Honorable Dennis J. Waldron,
district court judge, gave their opinions that the blood samples taken at LSU
Charity Hospital were tampered with by hospital personnel.
Long after the trial and sentencing some of the names also became known through letters submitted to
the court by LSU Medical and Dental School doctors and leadership after conviction in an attempt to
extricate their doctor Nabors from jail.
7. The
LSUHSC leadership wrote letters on official
LSUHSC state stationary to the
criminal court judge after the November 30, 1995 conviction to extricate their
doctor from jail. The letters were never publicly retracted by their
authors or the late Chancellor Trail and remain as official letters on file in
the open record at Orleans Parish criminal court. Based on the district court
judge's sentencing order, their influence and arrogance had no influence on the
judge's decision. It is obvious that the medical professionals who wrote these
letters are not aware that their education, intelligence, power, and arrogance
are no substitute for reason and compassion.
8. In early 1996, Chancellor Trail stated in writing that
LSUHSC terminated
Nabors from the Charity Hospital residency program the day he was convicted
which was November 30, 1995. It is interesting to note that as the conviction
was announced in Court after 4:00 PM, the action of
LSUHSC to terminate
Dr. Nabors must
have been lightning fast. In May 1996, documents were obtained from
LSUHSC that
showed Nabors position in the residency program was being held open even after
his imprisonment on December 5, 1995.
LSUHSC assumed their doctor's criminal
court appeal would be forthcoming and that he would return to LSUMC. When they
were caught and confronted with this information, they claimed it was an
administrative carryover and corrected the records.
9. In 1996, Chancellor Trail stated in writing that Nabors did not receive any
salary payments from
LSUHSC for work after the date of his conviction and
termination on November 30, 1995. In 1999, documents obtained from LSUMC
clearly showed that Nabors continued to receive payments after the referenced
dates and after he was imprisoned. Chancellor Trail was notified in writing. No
action was taken until Louisiana Governor Mike Foster forced
LSUHSC to take
action. In March 2000, Dr. Nabors was forced to reimburse the State of Louisiana
for the illegal payments.
10. To
date, the late Chancellors Mervin Trail, interim chancellor Mary Ella Sanders,
former chancellors Sean O'Keefe, Michael V. Martin, and William Jenkins, and
current chancellor F. King Alexander
refuse to produce any written termination document or letter to Dr.
Nabors verifying that convicted felon
Dr.
Nabors was terminated from their program on November 30, 1995 as the institution contends.
No one believes nor is it reasonable to believe that a medical resident, a
perpetual student in the LSU Medical/Dental System programs since 1989, was terminated without a written notice
or document. Incredibly, Dr. Nabors' attorney stated in open court at a bond
hearing in New Orleans, La. on December 5, 1995, that he was still in the
medical program even though Chancellor Trail stated in letters that Dr. Nabors was
terminated from the program on November 30, 1995.
11. In
spite of the actions and inactions of the
LSUHSC and Charity Hospital leadership
regarding the homicide, a few
LSUHSC
students did not share the leaderships
views and actions. One such student wrote a piece of literature entitled
A Breach of Contract which was
published in the spring 1996 edition of
PERSPECTIVES, a
student journal of the LSU Medical School. This article has been reproduced on
this web site for all to view.
The actions and inactions of the LSU Medical School and LSU Dental School chancellors , deans, and leadership, the LSU Medical School and LSU Dental School doctors and dentist, Charity Hospital , and those in supervisory positions over these agencies have been described as criminal by many. Some merely call it malfeasance. At a minimum, it is a breach of the trust placed by the public in the institutions.
The medical professionals and support staff who were involved in the criminal cover-up of actions and evidence could benefit from the biblical saying quoted by the New Orleans trial cout judge, "To him whom much is given, much is expected."