Dr. Anna Pou -- the physician arrested in the deaths of four patients at a New Orleans hospital after Hurricane Katrina -- filed suit against the Louisiana Attorney General on Monday, accusing him of using her arrest to fuel his re-election bid.

AP Photo

In this video frame grab provided by CBS News/"60 Minutes", Dr. Anna Pou, right, speaks with CBS's Morley Safer on the roof of the Windsor Court Hotel in New Orleans, Monday Sept. 11, 2006. Pou, who is accused of murdering four critically ill hospital patients with injections in the harrowing days after Hurricane Katrina, is defending herself publicly for the first time, saying in a CBS "60 Minutes" interview to air Sunday Sept. 24 that she gave them drugs simply to ease their pain.

The suit, filed in state court in Baton Rouge, also seeks to force the state to provide a legal defense for Pou against civil lawsuits filed by families of three of the patients.

Last year, State Attorney General Charles Foti claimed Pou and two nurses killed four people with a "lethal cocktail" at Memorial Medical Center during the chaotic conditions after the August 2005 storm. The four were among at least 34 who died at the sweltering, flooded hospital in the days following Katrina. Pou, who is free on bond, has not been formally charged. A New Orleans grand jury is looking into the case.

Foti had Pou arrested, "called an international press conference the next day to announce the arrest, made extra judicial comments totally contrary to the Rules of Professional Responsibility, and culminated the week's activity with an attorney general fundraiser to showcase his `achievements' in the arrest of Dr. Pou and the two nurses," the suit says.

Foti was not immediately available for comment when telephoned Monday afternoon.

The lawsuit says that Foti, although he turned the case over to the New Orleans District Attorney's Office, has an assistant acting as a prosecutor before the New Orleans grand jury investigating Pou. The lawsuit says that is a conflict of interest.

"The Attorney General is in a conflict of interest in that he has a vested interest in the indictment of Dr. Pou to salvage his credibility as a public official, especially in view of the Louisiana Attorney General election to be held in the next three months," the suit said.

That conflict of interest is grounds for the defense to quash an indictment, should one be issued, the suit says.

Pou and nurses, Lori Budo and Cheri Landry, were arrested and booked with second-degree murder after Foti's office investigated the case. Foti said the women put desperately ill patients to death using a lethal injection of drugs, after determining that the patients were either too ill or too incapacitated to be moved following Katrina.

The cases against Budo and Landry were dropped after they were compelled to testify before the grand jury last month.

Blame for the Memorial deaths, as well as others following the storm, should more properly be placed with the state of Louisiana and its agencies, including the attorney general's office, the suit claims.

Foti, the suit says, failed to carry out his duties to ensure that all state agencies, including the department of transportation, developed plans to evacuate the at-risk population as called for in Louisiana's emergency operation plan.

The state's pre-storm plan was a failure, the suit says, and so were its post-storm efforts. For days after the hurricane, the state abandoned patients and medical personnel at Memorial Medical, the suit says.

After the arrests, the results of Foti's investigation were turned over to the Orleans Parish district attorney.

Pou has not been formally charged and has been free on bond since her arrest July 17, 2006.

The lawsuit likens Foti's news conference last year about Pou's arrest to the publicity that surrounded rape charges against members of the Duke Lacrosse team -- charges that were eventually dropped. Prosecutor Michael Nifong was disbarred by the North Carolina State Bar for his handling of the now-discredited case.

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