Unexpected Necessities — Inside Charity Hospital

The skyscraper housing the oldest continuously operating hospital in the country, New Orleans' Charity Hospital, was erected in 1936, to replace a centuries-old complex that had grown rapidly to keep pace with the health needs of impoverished southern Louisiana. In August 2005, shattered windows notwithstanding, this 20th-century Charity endured Hurricane Katrina's winds and survived. On Sunday, August 28, I was assigned as teaching physician for the infectious diseases unit on the ninth floor of the hospital. There were 18 patients in the unit, of whom 4 had active tuberculosis and 13 had opportunistic infections related to HIV infection and AIDS. . . .