Abstract
Amidst the worst disaster to impact a major U.S. city in one hundred years, New Orleans’ main trauma and safety net medical center, the Reverend Avery C. Alexander Charity Hospital, was permanently closed. Charity’s administrative operator, Louisiana State University (LSU), ordered an end to its attempted reopening by its workers and U.S. military personnel in the weeks following the August 29, 2005 storm. Drawing upon rigorous review of literature and an exhaustive analysis of primary and secondary data, this case study found that Charity Hospital was closed as a result of disaster capitalism. LSU, backed by Louisiana state officials, took advantage of the mass internal displacement of New Orleans’ populace in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in an attempt to abandon Charity Hospital’s iconic but neglected facility and to supplant its original safety net mission serving the poor and uninsured for its neoliberal transformation to favor LSU’s academic medical enterprise.
","abstract_html":"<p><strong><em>Abstract</em></strong><strong></strong></p> <p>Amidst the worst disaster to impact a major U.S. city in one hundred years, New Orleans’ main trauma and safety net medical center, the Reverend Avery C. Alexander Charity Hospital, was permanently closed. Charity’s administrative operator, Louisiana State University (LSU), ordered an end to its attempted reopening by its workers and U.S. military personnel in the weeks following the August 29, 2005 storm. Drawing upon rigorous review of literature and an exhaustive analysis of primary and secondary data, this case study found that Charity Hospital was closed as a result of <em>disaster capitalism.</em> LSU, backed by Louisiana state officials, took advantage of the mass internal displacement of New Orleans’ populace in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in an attempt to abandon Charity Hospital’s iconic but neglected facility and to supplant its original safety net mission serving the poor and uninsured for its neoliberal transformation to favor LSU’s academic medical enterprise.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Ott, Kenneth Brad"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"M.A.","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"Sociology","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Vern Baxter","Shirley Laska","Rachel Luft"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2012,"date_issued":"2012-05-18T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2012-05-18T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:29:36Z","subjects":["Charity Hospital","New Orleans","Hurricane Katrina","disaster capitalism","medical neoliberalism","LSU Health Care Services Division","American Politics","Bioethics and Medical Ethics","Community-Based Research","Economics","Emergency Medicine","Health and Medical Administration","Health Economics","Health Policy","Health Services Administration","History of Science, Technology, and Medicine","Medical Education","Medicine and Health","Medicine and Health Sciences","Mental and Social Health","Policy History, Theory, and Methods","Political Economy","Politics and Social Change","Primary Care","Psychiatric and Mental Health","Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration","Public Health","Public Policy","Race and Ethnicity","Social History","Social Welfare","Sociology","Urban Studies","Urban Studies and Planning"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/1472","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Vern Baxter","Shirley Laska","Rachel Luft"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Ott, Kenneth Brad"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Sociology"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["M.A."]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Charity Hospital","New Orleans","Hurricane Katrina","disaster capitalism","medical neoliberalism","LSU Health Care Services Division","American Politics","Bioethics and Medical Ethics","Community-Based Research","Economics","Emergency Medicine","Health and Medical Administration","Health Economics","Health Policy","Health Services Administration","History of Science, Technology, and Medicine","Medical Education","Medicine and Health","Medicine and Health Sciences","Mental and Social Health","Policy History, Theory, and Methods","Political Economy","Politics and Social Change","Primary Care","Psychiatric and Mental Health","Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration","Public Health","Public Policy","Race and Ethnicity","Social History","Social Welfare","Sociology","Urban Studies","Urban Studies and Planning"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/1472"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Abstract
Amidst the worst disaster to impact a major U.S. city in one hundred years, New Orleans’ main trauma and safety net medical center, the Reverend Avery C. Alexander Charity Hospital, was permanently closed. Charity’s administrative operator, Louisiana State University (LSU), ordered an end to its attempted reopening by its workers and U.S. military personnel in the weeks following the August 29, 2005 storm. Drawing upon rigorous review of literature and an exhaustive analysis of primary and secondary data, this case study found that Charity Hospital was closed as a result of disaster capitalism. LSU, backed by Louisiana state officials, took advantage of the mass internal displacement of New Orleans’ populace in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in an attempt to abandon Charity Hospital’s iconic but neglected facility and to supplant its original safety net mission serving the poor and uninsured for its neoliberal transformation to favor LSU’s academic medical enterprise.
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Amidst the worst disaster to impact a major U.S. city in one hundred years, New Orleans’ main trauma and safety net medical center, the Reverend Avery C. Alexander Charity Hospital, was permanently closed. Charity’s administrative operator, Louisiana State University (LSU), ordered an end to its attempted reopening by its workers and U.S. military personnel in the weeks following the August 29, 2005 storm. Drawing upon rigorous review of literature and an exhaustive analysis of primary and secondary data, this case study found that Charity Hospital was closed as a result of disaster capitalism. LSU, backed by Louisiana state officials, took advantage of the mass internal displacement of New Orleans’ populace in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in an attempt to abandon Charity Hospital’s iconic but neglected facility and to supplant its original safety net mission serving the poor and uninsured for its neoliberal transformation to favor LSU’s academic medical enterprise.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/1472"],"dc:subject":["Charity Hospital","New Orleans","Hurricane Katrina","disaster capitalism","medical neoliberalism","LSU Health Care Services Division","American Politics","Bioethics and Medical Ethics","Community-Based Research","Economics","Emergency Medicine","Health and Medical Administration","Health Economics","Health Policy","Health Services Administration","History of Science, Technology, and Medicine","Medical Education","Medicine and Health","Medicine and Health Sciences","Mental and Social Health","Policy History, Theory, and Methods","Political Economy","Politics and Social Change","Primary Care","Psychiatric and Mental Health","Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration","Public Health","Public Policy","Race and Ethnicity","Social History","Social Welfare","Sociology","Urban Studies","Urban Studies and Planning"],"dc:title":["The Closure of New Orleans' Charity Hospital After Hurricane Katrina: A Case of Disaster Capitalism"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Sociology"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["M.A."]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T05:29:36Z"}