Goodbye Charity Hospital

This think-piece presents an exploratory research conducted in New Orleans in February 2015. I took great interest in the history – distant and recent – of Charity Hospital, a big public hospital of New Orleans parish established in 1736 which provided accessible yet excellent services for all. Since the 1930s this hospital was embodied in the collective identity throughout the specific urban history of racial segregation and poverty becoming emblematic of welfare for disadvantaged and Afro-American populations. Although also emblematic of solidarity during hurricane Katrina, this hospital was nonetheless closed in the aftermath of the storm. It was never re-opened despite intense collective attachment and huge health needs. A case of disaster capitalism (Klein, 2007 ; Ott, 2012), the damaged infrastructure serves as an excuse for state authorities to get rid of the “Charity system” and accessible healthcare for all. Despite years of collective mobilizations and several plans to reuse and reopen Charity, the gigantic Art Deco building is in ruins and a brand new hospital complex “up to the standard” has opened a few streets away within a new “biodistrict” neighborhood. This text presents a few ideas that have nourished my research on hospitals’ political economy and the collective sense of belonging to health infrastructures