page_title: Charity Hospital (New Orleans)
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Charity Hospital (New Orleans) / History
caption_attribution_description: New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina: Main entrance Charity Hospital on Tulane Avenue. It has been announced that due to severe damage to the building, the hospital will not reopen, and the building is expected to be demolished. Photo by Infrogmation, October 2005
context_page_description: Charity Hospital was one of two teaching hospitals which were part of the Medical Center of Louisiana at New Orleans, the other being University Hospital. Three weeks after the events of Hurricane Katrina, then Governor Kathleen Blanco said that Charity Hospital would not reopen as a functioning hospital. The Louisiana State University System, which owns the building, stated that it had no plans to reopen the hospital in its original location. It chose to incorporate Charity Hospital into the city's new medical center in the lower Mid-City neighborhood. The new hospital completed in August 2015 was named University Medical Center New Orleans.
context_section_description: Charity Hospital was founded on May 10, 1736, by a grant from Jean Louis, a French sailor and shipbuilder, who died in New Orleans the year before.  His last will and testament was to finance a hospital for the indigent in the colony of New Orleans from his estate.
  Charity Hospital was originally named the Hospital of Saint John or L’Hôpital des Pauvres de la Charité (The Charity Hospital for the Poor).  The first Charity Hospital was located on the intersection of Chartres Street and Bienville Street in what is now the French Quarter.  The hospital was founded 18 years after the city was founded by France in 1718.  It was the second oldest continuously operated public hospital in the United States.  Only Bellevue Hospital in New York City is older, having been founded a month earlier, on March 31, 1736.
  Charity Hospital quickly outgrew its original facility, and a second hospital was built at the edge of the colony on Basin Street in 1743.  A third hospital was built nearby in 1785.  It was renamed the San Carlos Hospital in honor of King Charles III, King of Spain, after New Orleans was ceded to Spain in 1763.
  A fire destroyed this hospital in 1809.  Without a building, a temporary hospital was established at the Cabildo for a month, then at the Jourdan residence in the Faubourg Marigny for six months, then the dilapidated De La Vergne plantation for 5 years while a fourth hospital was built.  This new hospital was built at the edge of the city on Canal Street where The Roosevelt New Orleans Hotel is currently located.  The hospital was completed in 1815, but this hospital was widely criticized as inadequate and underfunded.
  In 1832, a fifth hospital was built on Common Street (modern Tulane Avenue) between Howard Street (modern LaSalle Street), Robertson Street, and Gravier Street, on the edge of the Faubourg St. Marie. This hospital came under the administration of the Sisters of Charity in 1834, who would run the hospital for the next century.  Under their care, Charity Hospital, partnered with the Medical College of the University of Louisiana. 
  During the yellow fever epidemic of 1858, 2727 patients were admitted and of them 1382 died of the disease. Total patient admission that year was 11,337, being 9135 males and 2202 females. 
  By the 20th century, the city of New Orleans was rapidly expanding, and the demand for indigent medical services again exceeded Charity Hospital capacity.  A sixth hospital was built on Tulane Avenue in 1939. At the time it was the second largest hospital in the United States with 2,680 beds.
  The building's cornerstone lists the Federal Emergency Administration of Public Works (later called the Public Works Administration) as the building authority.  The architects were Weiss, Dreyfous & Seiferth, who were also responsible for the Louisiana State Capitol in Baton Rouge.  The hospital features two stone bas-reliefs and a cast-aluminum screen called Louisiana at Work and Play, all by artist Enrique Alférez.
  The LSU Health Sciences Center in New Orleans (LSUHSC-NO) was built adjacent to Charity Hospital in 1931 under the aegis of Louisiana Governor Huey Pierce Long. Serving one of the largest populations of uninsured citizens, Charity Hospital also boasted the #2 Level I Trauma Center in the nation, with the #1 rank belonging to Cook County Hospital in Chicago, Illinois.
  In 1968, the hospital lost a malpractice case before the U.S. Supreme Court. In Louise Levy, Administratrix v. Louisiana through the Charity Hospital of Louisiana at New Orleans Board of Administrators, et al., the court ruled that a child born out of wedlock could not be prevented from suing on behalf of a deceased parent.
  The Louisiana Department of Health and Human Resources (DHH) took control of Charity Hospital in 1970.  The hospital was transferred to the Louisiana Health Care Authority (LHCA) in 1991 and to the LSU System in 1997.
caption: Main entry of Charity Hospital
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