Monthly archives: August, 2022

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The Apple TV+ series tries to account for the Katrina heath-care disaster, but its doctor-first perspective fails those who felt the greatest impact.

As a disabled person for whom going to the hospital is already a terrifying experience, “Five Days at Memorial” triggered me. It took several weeks to get over watching all eight episodes of the Apple TV+ limited series, an adaptation of Sheri Fink’s nonfiction investigation “Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital.” The book and the TV show focus on the doctors and patients stranded at Memorial Medical Center during Hurricane Katrina. When the floodwaters receded in 2005, 45 dead bodies were discovered in the hospital’s basement, with allegations that at least two patients were euthanized.

“Five Days” is based on a book about doctors’ experiences, but those experiences hinge on questions surrounding euthanasia and the disabled. Presenting disabled people in emergencies as nameless characters stuck in some kind of moral gray area tells us that if you’re disabled, “first do no harm” does not apply.

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Disabled people aren’t always able to speak for themselves in a hospital setting. We’re often talked down to, infantilized, or see our pain and concerns minimized. In a 2014 article by Dr. Leana S. Wen for The Washington Post, she noted that 57 million adults and 5.2 million children in the U.S. have a disability (about 20 percent of the U.S. population), but “little attention is devoted to teaching future doctors how to care for people with speech disorders or other disabilities.”

The series does its best to showcase the heroism of Memorial and LifeCare doctors who stayed with patients during an unprecedented disaster that included lack of air-conditioning, food, water, and sanitary facilities. It also speaks to a continued issue in the American healthcare system that we only saw increase during the COVID-19 pandemic: rationing of care.

Care rationing has been present in every major natural disaster from Katrina to Covid and it is a massive fear to the disabled community. The disabled are often believed to be sickly and weak. We’re expected to die early, so in a situation where it becomes survival of the fittest the disabled are not generally considered the top of the totem pole. As “Memorial” shows, a person who’s ambulatory, regardless of age, is worth saving no matter what.

The aftermath of Memorial Hospital yielded no real protections for disabled people. A grand jury in New Orleans failed to indict Dr. Anna Pou (Vera Farmiga in the series) or any other nurses suspected of helping her euthanize patients. In fact, according to a 2009 New York Times Magazine article that Fink wrote before the publication of “Five Days,” Pou helped write and passed three laws in Louisiana that gave immunity from civil lawsuits for health care workers accused of any crimes that take place during a mass casualty event.

In 2020, disability groups filed complaints against Kansas and Tennessee for the states’ “crisis of care” guidelines, which cut care to people who used home ventilators. In New York, guidelines stated “that a person who shows up at a hospital with their personal home ventilator could have it taken from them and given to someone else.” The Office for Civil Rights at the Department of Health and Human Services opened investigations, but those disappeared once COVID vaccines became open to the public. The Tennessee case was settled earlier this year, while there’s been no update on where the case in Kansas currently stands. “Five Days” is an inadvertent reminder that with every disaster comes care rationing unless the people this series is marketed toward, i.e. the able-bodied, do something about it.

“Five Days at Memorial”

Apple TV+

However, this perspective is missing from “Five Days at Memorial.” Outside of medical professionals, the only disabled patient we learn about on the show is Emmett Everett (Damon Standifer), a 380-pound paraplegic who was at the hospital to await surgery for a bowel obstruction. We learn only that Emmett is a charming man and, when the hurricane hits, he’s desperate to speak with his wife.

The series presents Everett’s death as ambiguous; we don’t know if he died in the face of circumstantial crisis or euthanasia, a storytelling choice that would push the series to make a point. It’s a scenario I call the “Tiny Tim Principle,” where medical scenes involving disabled characters serve as reflections of how good or bad the doctors are at their jobs. In these situations, the disabled patients are generally smiling, grateful, and saintly. Since we don’t learn about any of the affected victims, the audience must rely on the doctors to give the characters’ lives meaning.

Medical shows often fall into “caretaker entertainment,” shows about those who care for the disabled rather than the disabled themselves. In “Five Days at Memorial,” one man becomes a fire department volunteer so he can storm the hospital to save his mother. A woman caring for her dying mother is forcibly taken out of the hospital when it’s evacuated, leaving her mother to die. In these moments, the disabled person watching the series is left emotionally ravaged — but the series’ storytelling with its slow-motion and somber music tells us to how sad it is that these able-bodied people are told to leave.

Yes, “Five Days at Memorial” wasn’t ever meant to be about disability or the patients themselves. But it could have certainly critiqued ableism, especially in natural disaster situations. It’s why disabled people need to be in writer’s rooms working on scripts. There were opportunities to have these characters look at their own able-bodied privilege and illustrate that problems like these remain far too common.

“Five Days at Memorial” streams every Friday on Apple TV+.

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https://www.indiewire.com/2022/08/five-days-at-memorial-ignore-disabled-perspective-1234754376/
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tvOS 16 beta 7 is now available to developers as Apple aims for a September release of this operating system. Although the company almost forgot about tvOS 16 during the WWDC 2022 keynote, there are some features users should be excited about when it launches next month.

Today’s build is 20J5371a. In just a few weeks, Apple will release tvOS 16 to all users.

Different from the other betas, developers need to download the tvOS 16 testing version through Xcode. Although HomePod Software 16 is available for a few developers, users that want to try its beta should enroll in the Beta Software Program, since it’s now available for everyone that owns a HomePod mini.

That said, here’s what’s new with tvOS 16 beta 7 as of now:

• Nintendo Switch controllers compatibility: tvOS 16 will finally support Nintendo Switch’s Joy-Cons and Pro Controller. We feature this story here at 9to5Mac. Apple says “many additional Bluetooth and USB game controllers are supported by the Game Controller” starting with tvOS 16;
• HDR10+ support: The latest generation of high dynamic range technology will be supported in the Apple TV app on tvOS 16;
• Video-forward featuring on the Apple TV+ tab: Rich video previews at the top of the Apple TV+ tab help users discover their next favorite Apple Original;
• Apple Fitness+: With tvOS 16, at key moments in the workout, Intensity Metrics are called out and will appear on the screen for motivation. The intensities are Easy, Moderate, Hard, and All Out.

Again, HomePod Software 16 is finally available for public beta testing. To download it, just follow the steps below:

If your iPhone or iPad is already running the latest iOS 16 beta:

1. Open the Home app on your iPhone or iPad.
2. Tap the “…” button in the upper right corner of the screen.
3. Tap Home Settings.
4. Choose the Software Update option.
5. Go to the HomePod Beta Updates menu.
6. Switch on the toggles for the HomePods you want to install the beta software on.

Alongside tvOS 16 beta 7, Apple is seeding iOS 16 beta 7, iPadOS 16 beta 7, and watchOS 9 beta 7.

If you spot any changes in tvOS 16 beta 6 or the other betas from Apple today, let us know in the comments below or on Twitter @9to5Mac. Stay tuned for our full hands-on coverage with the releases right here at 9to5Mac if we find anything new. 

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Check out 9to5Mac on YouTube for more Apple news:

https://9to5mac.com/2022/08/23/tvos-16-beta-7-now-available/
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1/5

License Photo”,”object_name”:”BAD SISTERS PREMIERE”,”xy”:[645,430],”img_name”:”BAD-SISTERS-PREMIERE_1″},{“p”:”https://cdnph.upi.com/svc/sv/i/3831660754824/2022/2/16607559195701/Sharon-Horgan-Bad-Sisters-villain-has-every-bad-human-trait.jpg”,”c”:”John-Paul (Claes Bang) threatens Eva (Sharon Horgan). Photo courtesy of Apple TV+”,”xy”:[645,430],”img_name”:”_2″},{“p”:”https://cdnph.upi.com/svc/sv/i/3831660754824/2022/3/16607560525425/Sharon-Horgan-Bad-Sisters-villain-has-every-bad-human-trait.jpg”,”c”:”From left to right, Anne-Marie Duff, Saise Quinn, Sharon Horgan, Eva Birthistle, Sarah Greene and Eve Hewson attend John-Paul’s funeral. Photo courtesy of Apple TV+”,”xy”:[645,429],”img_name”:”_3″},{“p”:”https://cdnph.upi.com/svc/sv/i/3831660754824/2022/4/16607561174421/Sharon-Horgan-Bad-Sisters-villain-has-every-bad-human-trait.jpg”,”c”:”Eva Birthistle (L) and Sarah Greene are “Bad Sisters.” Photo courtesy of Apple TV+”,”xy”:[645,429],”img_name”:”_4″},{“p”:”https://cdnph.upi.com/svc/sv/i/3831660754824/2022/5/16607561945528/Sharon-Horgan-Bad-Sisters-villain-has-every-bad-human-trait.jpg”,”c”:”Sharon Horgan stars as Eva in “Bad Sisters.” Photo courtesy of Apple TV+”,”xy”:[645,429],”img_name”:”_5″}]);}]]> Sharon Horgan wrote and stars in “Bad Sisters.” File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 18 (UPI) — Writer and star Sharon Horgan said the antagonist of her new show, Bad Sisters, premiering Friday on Apple TV+, represents the worst of humanity.

Horgan, Sarah Greene, Eva Birthistle and Eve Hewson play sisters who band together to kill their other sister’s (Anne-Marie Duff) husband.

“He is the container of every bad human trait you could have,” Horgan, 52, told UPI in a recent Zoom interview. “Not just male trait — any human trait.”

John-Paul (Claes Bang), who is married to Grace (Duff), restricts Grace socially, humiliates her publicly and verbally abuses everyone around him.

Horgan called John-Paul “a bully and a coward and an idiot — a dangerous, vain piece of work.”

Bang, 55, who recently played the villain, Fjolnir, in the Viking epic, The Northman, said John-Paul is much more dangerous, noting that Fjolnir only murdered a king and usurped a kingdom, but at least he was honest about who he was.

“With this guy, he does not know that he’s vile, that he’s toxic,” Bang said. “He’s so much more dangerous because he ruins relationships and he ruins people.”

However, Horgan quickly added that she did not want John-Paul to be a one-dimensional villain. So, it was important to show him as a good father.

“He’s sometimes beautiful with his daughter, sometimes loving with his wife and respected at work,” Horgan said. “All of those little humanities, I think, make for more of a dangerous character because he could be your next-door neighbor or a family member.”

Duff, 51, said Grace is trapped in her marriage. Although she puts on a brave face, Duff suspects Grace knows deep down she’s being abused.

“She knows in her very calcium that she is trapped, but she refuses to believe it,” Duff said. “You may be stuck in hell, but you think, well, it’s so warm on this rock. Why do I want to leave? Because you don’t realize the freedom that lies outside of it.”

John-Paul also is responsible for physical injuries. Bibi (Greene) implies that he is the reason she lost her left eye and wears an eyepatch, although the explanation is coming in a later episode.

“I’m actually quite blind in my other eye,” said Greene, 38. “We didn’t realize that until the eyepatch went on. I was stuck with it.”

John-Paul also catches Ursula (Birthistle) having an affair and manipulates her with that knowledge. Birthistle, 48, said she’s witnessed friends escape domineering partners, but that Bad Sisters escalated John-Paul’s behavior.

“Gaslighting, for example, is something that unfortunately most of us have experienced, male or female, in relationships,” Birthistle said. “We’ve all had friends we’ve realized had partners, ex-partners now, thankfully, who were not desirable.”

Horgan previously dealt with relationships in trouble when she created the original half-hour comedies Catastrophe, Divorce and Shining Vale. Bad Sisters is based on the Belgian series, Clan.

Horgan had adapted a short story for an episode of Modern Love. She said she considers Bad Sisters her first adaptation, among other new territories.

“I’ve never made a thriller before,” Horgan said. “I’ve never made an hour of anything before, so it was all new to me.”

Bad Sisters begins with John-Paul’s funeral. Then, it flashes back to six months to show how he died.

The sisters plot various types of murders, most of which fail. Horgan said she reduced the number of attempted murders in her adaptation.

“I wanted there to be half the number of dead bodies, but twice the amount of fallout for the sisters,” Horgan said. “There are only so many ways you can try and kill a man and feasibly get away with it.”

The title change came because Horgan was worried about the negative connotations of Clan in the United States. However, Bad Sisters defined her adaptation more accurately, Horgan said.

“I quite like the moral ambiguity of it,” she said. “What they are doing is, on paper, bad, but they are very good sisters. And they’re badass.”

Plotting to murder John-Paul bonds Bibi, Ursula, Eva (Horgan) and Becka (Hewson) closer together at first. But then, it causes new problems.

“They all, at some points, jeopardize the whole situation in some form or other by leaving a bit of evidence, by saying too much, by being in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Birthistle said. “So, their relationships get tested as a result.”

Horgan still found room for comedy in Bad Sisters, but that comedy becomes more macabre because the subject is abuse and murder.

“What was challenging was where to do it. It was when and where, because I didn’t want to belittle the subject matter,” Horgan said. “I didn’t want to belittle what was happening to Grace at the heart of this.

“But at the same time, it’s a bit of a romp. It’s sort of funny, inherently, in its premise.”

Some such humor includes John-Paul’s funeral. In the first scene of the show, Grace discovers he died with an erection, and she tries to cover it.

“Everyone had an opinion,” Duff said. “I seem to remember a lot of people peering into the coffin, making adjustments.”

New episodes of Bad Sisters premiere Fridays on Apple TV+.

https://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/TV/2022/08/18/Sharon-Horgan-Bad-Sisters/3831660754824/
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Did Dr. Anna Pou, a surgeon at what was then known as Memorial Medical Center in New Orleans, get “Sully”-ed? Was she a valiant physician undeserving of attacks on her ethical character and crisis management? Or, in the cruel aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, did she cross every known ethical, medical and legal line?

“Five Days at Memorial,” the eight-part limited series now streaming on Apple TV+, dramatizes many more questions and real-life characters. The series unfolds against a larger maelstrom of gutless mismanagement and abdication of responsibility on the federal, state and city levels in the wake of Katrina.

The floodwaters that breached the levees left so many, betrayed and isolated, to die. What happened in this particular building — 45 corpses were found days later in the hospital chapel — is both a lament and a warning to those who will face the next Category 5 hurricane.

Warning: While often gripping, the series, covering a nearly two-year time span, is not the propulsive “ER”-style experience promised by the trailer. The first five episodes, broken down neatly by Day One, Day Two etc., constitute a stark drama of waiting. Waiting for floodwaters to recede; for power and hope to be restored; for privatized health care administrators to do the right thing.

The final three episodes shift gears into the story of how Louisiana Department of Justice officials investigated the events involving Dr. Pou, played by top-billed Vera Farmiga, and her colleagues under barely imaginable duress. What makes “Five Days at Memorial” worth seeing, in a cold-creeps way, is its emphasis not on nobility or venality but everything in between. Series creators, writers and (splitting the first five episodes) directors John Ridley and Carlton Cuse aren’t trying to do “Katrina: The Limited Series.” They use Memorial as a metaphor for the entire Katrina tragedy.

The series is based on Sheri Fink’s 2013 book “Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital.” (The hospital is now the Ochsner Baptist Medical Center.) Ridley and Cuse make the necessary character intros speedily and well in episode one. With the hurricane six hours away, Pou is planning for an inconvenience of “three days at the most.”

On the upper floors of Memorial, a separate, for-profit hospital, LifeCare, is overseen by the very pregnant Diane Robichaux (Julie Ann Emery). Cherry Jones, splendidly honest and dimensionally moving as always, portrays her Memorial counterpart, Susan Mulderick. They’re nominally in charge of disaster preparedness. At one eerie point in “Five Days at Memorial,” Mulderick desperately flips through a manual, searching for the hurricane scenario that does not exist.

The storm hits, the floodwaters rise and then, on Day Two, recede. But then the levees give way, and conditions become a nightmare. The long-delayed helicopter rescues of patients require many flights of stairs inside the building (the power’s out) and then, on the roof, two sets of rickety metal stairways up to a helipad that has not been used in nearly two decades.

Other key characters, notably Pou’s colleague Dr. Bryant King (Cornelius Smith Jr.) and registered nurse Karen Wynn (Adepero Oduye), become the viewer’s eyes and ears. As “Five Days at Memorial” proceeds, the conditions of those stranded in a sweltering, malfunctioning hospital mirror what’s happening mostly off camera.

Adepero Oduye and Cherry Jones costar in “Five Days at Memorial,” the limited series premiering Aug. 12 on Apple TV Plus. (Russ Martin / HANDOUT)

Though hardly the fault of Wendey Stanzler, who directed episodes six, seven and eight, the series as written morphs into a very different affair after episode five. An assistant Attorney General Arthur “Butch” Schafer (Michael Gaston, excellent) and his Medicaid Fraud Unit colleague Virginia Rider (Molly Hager) learn that some patients did not die of natural causes. At this point “Five Days at Memorial” goes into full legal procedural, with a simple mystery to be solved, centered mostly on Pou’s actions.

These later episodes of “Five Days at Memorial” favor spooky, vaguely Expressionistic flashbacks where we learn what really went down. They’re a bit much. Now and then, the series blows its budgetary wad on conspicuous digital depictions of horrific destruction, including the roof blowing off the Louisiana Superdome. These tactics have a way of distancing, rather than intensifying, the human drama Ridley and Cuse achieve successfully elsewhere.

“Corporate is doing everything they can,” Mulderick reassures a colleague at one point, and the way Jones murmurs that line, you hear tiny warning bells of despair. What an actress! So is Farmiga, who does everything she can to complicate her character’s motives and actions, even when the series makes up its mind about Dr. Pou so we don’t have to.

“Five Days at Memorial” — 3 stars (out of 4)

Content rating: TV-MA (language, thematic elements)

Running time: Eight episodes, approximately seven hours total

How to watch: Premieres Aug. 12 on Apple TV Plus

Michael Phillips is a Tribune critic.

mjphillips@chicagotribune.com

Twitter @phillipstribune

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https://www.mcall.com/entertainment/movies/sc-ent-five-days-memorial-hurricane-review-20220813-dogt6d4bv5c3he5ehdv7fk6r5e-story.html
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