New Orleans: Land for hospital in limbo

The Times-Picayune, February 25, 2008

Plans for a new hospital campus hang like a shadow over New Orleans residents in the Tulane-Gravier neighborhood who were largely resigned to their neighborhood's fate. Residents pulled together to rebuild after Katrina--meeting on the neutral ground when there were no habitable buildings--and now stand to lose both their houses and their newfound sense of solidarity. The city, state and federal governments have announced their intention to demolish the neighborhood and build two teaching hospitals, which will be shared by Louisiana State University and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, in its place. The hospitals are to act as a means to revive the crippled healthcare system, reverse the exodus of doctors and inaugurate a new economy based on medical research and education.