New Orleans hospital board survives dispute in St. Bernard Parish

Despite months of controversy and finger-pointing between the St. Bernard Parish Council and a public board created to oversee construction of a hospital, the council has kept the panel in place amid lingering questions about who will manage the hospital and how to pay for it. The feud revolved around a lack of progress on hospital construction and allegations of a conflict of interest involving two doctors on the board. St. Bernard has been without a hospital since Hurricane Katrina destroyed Chalmette Medical Center, and parish officials have cited the lack of a hospital as a key roadblock to recovery.