Five Days at Memorial Episode 6 Recap & Ending Explained: While the first five episodes dealt with the ‘Five Days at Memorial, the sixth episode shows the aftermath of this terrifying incident. The series switches its mode from being a survival thriller to an investigative thriller. By the end of the 5th day, many of the patients and the hospital staff were successfully evacuated. However, due to the continuing delay in response from the authorities to help the people stuck in New Orleans, this unprecedented natural calamity became a terrifying chapter in the lives of those who went through it. After the evacuation, the previous episode hinted at the inability to save the DNR patients largely due to systemic failure. This new episode starts focusing on this very aspect.
Five Days at Memorial Episode 6 Recap:
Titled ’45 Dead’, the 6th episode addresses the core issue right from this title. Until the 5th episode, the creators showed bits of interrogation after the incident where the doctors were being questioned about these 45 patients and the challenges that arose during these five days. In this new episode, Dr. Horace Baltz (Robert Pine) tries to explain to the investigators about the terrible situations after the Hurricane and the terrible decisions made during the time that he regrets making. This is the first time; we are shown the faces of the investigators and the further episode shows the narrative from their perspective.
The investigation clip is followed by real-life footage where President Bush is seen trying to cover up the incompetency and utter disregard shown by the government. Through his answers, it becomes pretty clear that he is only trying to shift the blame for not being able to help those in need. Then, the narration shifts to 13 days after the incident (September 11, 2005) where we’re introduced to officer Arthur Schafer, known more often as Butch. As told by the attorney general, he arrives in Baton Rouge, and on his way, he sees several people camping on any place from the street. The general tells him to investigate the 45 dead bodies from the Memorial Hospital and the fraud that took place under the authority of its superiors. When he calls these authorities, they refuse to answer any of his questions and tell him to send a copy of his questions by fax.
Butch later meets Virginia (Molly Hager) who then decides to accompany him in this case. Meanwhile, Dr. Anna Pou (Vera Farmiga) is shown having lunch and offers her to work somewhere else since the Memorial hospital shut down after the Hurricane. She mentions being thrilled to get back to work anytime soon. At the hospital, the hospital staff including Susan (Cherry Jones) and Dr. Wynn (Adepero Oduye) are being told to contact the families of the patients who died during the hurricane to inform the demise of their loved ones. As per the order, they are supposed to tell these people that the patients died due to a lack of electricity and high temperatures. They read out the pre-written responses verbatim and tell these family members that they tried their best to comfort the patients.
Since the officials they contacted were vague in answering their questions, Butch and Virginia head to the Memorial Hospital. On their way, they see the devastation caused by the hurricane. Outside the hospital, they are stopped by the security guard to enter the premises stating the order by the officials. Meanwhile, Dr. Pou receives a call from CNN whether she would speak about the 45 dead bodies in the incident. She doesn’t confirm it right away and then calls Susan to get her point of view. She informs Anna to wait for someone from Tenet to call her back regarding this. Anna later calls Dr. Cook and informs him about CNN’s interest to interview her. He advises her not to indulge them any further and to rather ‘hide’ from them. Meanwhile, Butch visits a nurse from the Memorial hospital to investigate the case and learns that she is the one who heroically saved an infant. He hopes more medical professionals to be like her unlike the ones assigned to his daughter who died due to a prescribed overdose.
Dr. Pou receives a call from an official from Tenant who advises her to call her back from a landline than a cell phone as a more secure option. This communications director asks for the exact details she can share about the incident that they hope to use for further defense. Through her conversation, she appears pretty confident that she did not do anything wrong. Meanwhile, Butch and Virginia visit Dr. Diane Robichaux (Julie Ann Emery) from the Lifecare hospital who mentions that the deaths were not accidental.
She also shares the horrifying details from the 5 days when she witnessed it in person, questioning Susan about her patients in critical condition who redirects her to Dr. Pou. Anna asks for more details about the patient and tries to convince Diane how difficult (nearly impossible) it is saving her patient, Emmet because of his weight. She mentions how Anna mentioned that these patients are just not going to survive and while she didn’t specifically mention euthanasia, Diane mentions how that’s what was implied. She further claims how her patients were rather killed and the guilt of not doing enough to save them.
Five Days at Memorial Episode 6 Ending, Explained
After Diane’s interview, Butch and Virginia still do not get a clear statement saying the 45 patients were euthanized. So, they plan to investigate further and dig deeper to find the answers. They further question Ms. Mendez, the nurse executive at Lifecare whose last day at the hospital got delayed. She recalls the moments when helicopters came to their rescue and how the whole scene felt as frightening as The Fall of Saigon. They also question Ms. Kristy, the physical medicine director who supervised rehabilitation and therapy sessions at the hospital. She mentions being informed that the patients are not going to survive.
While everyone was trying their best to help the patients, Ms. Mendez recalls being told by Dr. Pou about the decision to administer lethal doses since the patients were not going to survive. One of these drugs was morphine. Both of them also admit seeing Dr. Anna taking the morphine dose to the patient’s room but not witnessing her giving the dosage in person. Mr. Nakamura, the pharmacist on the last day mentions Dr. Pou asking for lethal doses for the patients. He describes the medicines they would be using but admits to never seeing any of the doctors or nurses inject any patients. In the end, he mentions that the only possible conclusion of this incident is that those patients were murdered.
