Commentary: The Tulane University-Ochsner Clinic Foundation Neurosurgery Program: 75 Years of History, Including the Program’s Rebirth After Katrina
Authors: Lora Kahn, MD, Roger D. Smith, MD Aaron S. Dumont, MD, Cuong J. Bui, MD Edison P. Valle-Giler, MD
Correspondence: Edison Valle-Giler, MD, Oshsner Health System, Department of Neurosurgery, E-mail: edisonpvalle@gmail.com
Received, August 21, 2018. Accepted, February 18, 2019.
Copyright C 2019 by the Congress of Neurological Surgeons
ORIGINS OF MEDICAL AND SURGICAL TRAINING IN NEW ORLEANS
Charity Hospital
After New Orleans was founded in 1718, sailor Jean Louis died and bequeathed his fortune in 1736 to establish a hospital for the poor of New Orleans, which would be recognized for almost 300 years as Charity Hospital. Father Phillipe of St. Louis Cathedral and sisters of the Ursuline Convent assumed responsibility its management, and these “Daughters of Charity” continued to provide care into the modern era. Charity was the oldest continually operating hospital in the United States and had served as the training Mecca of many medical generations. Charity, “where the unusual occurs, and miracles happen,” was known for providing second-to-none care for all patients while training the future leaders in medicine.
Tulane University and the Medical School
In 1834, physicians from Philadelphia who had been shipwrecked arrived in New Orleans, where they recognized the magnitude of pathology, thus opening the Medical College of Louisiana.1 In 1847, the Legislature absorbed the medical school into the University of Louisiana. In 1882, Paul Tulane, a wealthy New Orleans businessman, donated a large tract of land and monies to the Tulane Educational Fund, who became the trustees of the Tulane University. The legislature subsequently transferred ownership of the University to the Administrators of the Tulane Educational Fund, and Tulane University became a private institution. While the University was relocated in uptown New Orleans, the medical school remained downtown, adjacent to Charity. In 1972, the Tulane Board of Governors approved the construction of a 235-bed hospital across from Charity to serve as a private teaching hospital; it was completed in 1976.
Ochsner Clinic Foundation
Dr Rudolph Matas, world-renowned vascular surgeon and Chairman of Surgery at Tulane and Charity, graduated from the University of Louisiana in 1880. When he stepped down as Chairman in 1927, Dr Alton Ochsner took over, making New Orleans a popular medical destination. In 1942, after a political disagreement with Governor Huey P. Long, Ochsner and other Tulane department heads left to form an independent multispecialty clinic. Dr. Dean Echols, a neurosurgeon that Dr. Ochsner had recruited for Tulane, soon followed to join the group at the new Ochsner Clinic. As the first group practice in the Deep South, Ochsner was founded to provide a “one-stop” medical center for comprehensive care from a physician group.
Veteran Affairs Medical Center
The New Orleans Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center began in 1946 as buildings near Lake Pontchartrain that were modified after World War II. The first formal VA hospital was opened in September 1952 as a 492-bed hospital. That facility closed in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina left the hospital’s electrical equipment submerged in water for weeks. The VA clinics remained open, but Tulane contracted to provide inpatient care for veterans. In June 2006, Congress approved a new $1 billion institution situated on 31 acres that partially opened in 2016 for outpatient and limited inpatient care. This hospital is projected to serve over 70,000 veterans...
