Beloved New Orleans hospital, wracked by floods and grief in Hurricane Katrina, to get a makeover

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — In the chaos of Hurricane Katrina, Charity Hospital in New Orleans became a scene of heartbreak and heroism, with doctors scrambling to keep patients alive without power or functioning medical equipment while floodwaters trapped them inside its darkened halls for days on end.

The massive hospital, a New Orleans landmark that long cared for the city's most vulnerable residents, was shuttered after the last patients and staff were rescued in 2005. Now, as Louisiana marks the storm's 21st anniversary Saturday, the long-vacant storm-damaged building is on the brink of new life.

Tulane University announced this summer that it is spearheading a $500 million effort to convert Charity Hospital into a pioneering medical research facility, transforming the 1930s-era art deco building into a downtown hub of biomedical innovation. Construction is expected to start this fall.

Local leaders have embraced the project in a city where some hospitals have haunted New Orleans since Katrina. Dozens of patients died at the former Memorial hospital, now known as the Ochsner Baptist Medical Center, after floodwaters trapped them inside in sweltering conditions without power. Demolition crews this month began tearing down another complex, the Lindy Boggs Medical Center, which had sat blighted and vacant for more than 20 years after Katrina.

One of the deadliest and most destructive hurricanes in U.S. history, Katrina killed nearly 1,400 people across five states and racked up an estimated $200 billion in damage, flattening homes along the nearby Gulf Coast and swamping entire neighborhoods with ruinous floods.

Tulane leaders say reviving the iconic landmark marks a major stride in putting behind the hurricane's dark days.

Charity Hospital “reflected the sort of commitment of New Orleans to the healthcare of the community,” Tulane President Michael Fitts said. “Now it’s being brought back in a way that makes the same commitment to the community.”

For generations, the Charity Hospital system served as New Orleans' safety net, treating all patients regardless of whether they had health insurance. The million-square-foot (93,000-square-meter) main building has remained empty since Katrina. In the intervening decades, various redevelopment gambits have fizzled.

The hospital was run by Louisiana State University, which determined that Katrina left the building too damaged to reopen — an assessment that was disputed by some hospital staff and community members. Instead, LSU used federal disaster relief funding to open a new hospital.

After Katrina made landfall in Louisiana, the failure of New Orleans’ federal levee system inundated about 80% of the city in floodwaters.

Dr. Lee Hamm, dean of the Tulane University School of Medicine, recalled canoeing through the submerged city to check on the welfare of patients and health care staff.

“Everyone was exhibiting a lot of courage at the moment,” Hamm said. “People were going about doing what they needed to do.”

The new medical research hub is scheduled to be completed in 2029.

Plans include providing space for medical and public health programs as part of what Fitts called “the largest, most significant initiative in the history of Tulane.” The new accommodations will also include labs for hundreds of researchers, space for biomedical startups, and classrooms.

Hamm said he hopes the hub will spur medical advancements that benefit the entire Gulf South.

Anticipating a bright, new future for the Charity Hospital building, New Orleans Mayor Helena Moreno called the redevelopment “a welcome step forward and an opportunity to put this historic property back to productive use.”

Brook is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

Tulane University president Michael A. Fitts talks outside the old Charity Hospital building Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2026, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Dr. Lee Hamm, dean of the Tulane University School of Medicine, walks in the white coat room of the old Charity Hospital building Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2026, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Tulane University president Michael A. Fitts walks up a stairwell inside the old Charity Hospital building Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2026, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

The bas-relief over the entrance of the old Charity Hospital building is seen Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2026, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Patrick Norton, Tulane University senior vice president, chief operating officer and treasurer, right, and Jeff Benjamin, vice president of facilities and campus development, talk in a hallway inside the old Charity Hospital building Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2026, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

PLYMOUTH, Mass. (AP) — Jurors in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial are expected to return to court Friday morning at 9 a.m. ET in Plymouth, Massachusetts, where they must decide whether to hold the former labor and delivery nurse criminally responsible for killing her three children in 2023.

While both sides agree she killed her children, Clancy’s attorneys argued she suffered from postpartum psychosis, with Kevin Reddington saying “ lousy medical care ” exacerbated her condition. Plymouth County prosecutors argued she intentionally planned the killings and that the nation’s healthcare system is “ not on trial here.”

Postpartum psychosis is estimated to afflict 1 to 2 per 1,000 women after delivery. Experts at the Cleveland Clinic describe it as a mental health emergency affecting someone’s sense of reality. It can happen to anyone after giving birth, but the chances are higher for people with certain mental health conditions. Though most people with postpartum psychosis don’t harm their children, mothers with severe cases may try to do so, and also may try to harm themselves.

Editor’s Note: If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat at 988lifeline.org.

Here's the latest:

Jurors must decide whether Clancy committed first-degree murder in each child’s death. The charge, which requires proof of premeditation and malice, carries a sentence of life without parole.

If jurors acquit her of that charge, they must consider lesser charges.

If the jury finds Clancy not guilty, a judge can order an evaluation. If she is found mentally ill and a danger to herself or others, the court can commit her to a state mental hospital for six months. She would be assessed annually, but could remain hospitalized for the rest of her life.

If she is no longer considered dangerous or suffering from a mental illness, Clancy would be discharged.

By LAURA UNGAR

Postpartum psychosis is estimated to afflict only 1 to 2 per 1,000 women after delivery. Experts at the Cleveland Clinic describe it as a mental health emergency affecting someone’s sense of reality.

It can happen to anyone after giving birth, but the chances are higher for people with certain mental health conditions. In a journal article on the subject in 2023, researchers at the Medical University of Lublin in Poland said about half of people with postpartum psychosis have a previous history of psychiatric problems and the most common risk factor associated with the condition is bipolar affective disorder, which causes extreme mood swings.

Though most people with postpartum psychosis don’t harm their children, mothers with severe cases may try to do so, and also may try to harm themselves.

Experts say it’s important to seek immediate help if you or your partner or family member show signs of postpartum psychosis.

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The trial hinges on Clancy’s mental health and whether she understood that killing the children was wrong.

Prosecutors contend she did and that she acted intentionally. They noted she was involved in everyday activities the day of the killings, such as taking her children to the doctor and playing with them in the snow. The prosecution claims she deliberately sent her then-husband on errands to get him out of the house, and prosecutors have questioned the seriousness of her suicide attempt.

Clancy’s lawyer, Kevin Reddington, maintains she was so mentally ill that she shouldn’t be held criminally responsible for the killings. According to her defense, she had bipolar disorder and postpartum psychosis and, ultimately, it led her to believe she heard a voice telling her to kill the children so she could end her own life.

In diary entries Clancy wrote in the months before the killings, she described feeling anxious, overwhelmed, preoccupied with the details of her infant’s care, beset by “brain fog,” and “desperate to get a mental break from taking care of everyone.”

Both the prosecution and the defense have drawn on expert testimony to support their contrasting views of Clancy’s mental state at the time of the killings.

One forensic psychiatrist, testifying for the defense, said Clancy was “clearly psychotic” and held a delusional belief that her children would be better off dying with her than being left behind. The prosecution’s experts agreed that she had serious psychological problems, but said she wasn’t psychotic. They also questioned Clancy’s account of being commanded by a voice and asserted that she knew right from wrong and had control of her behavior.

Lindsay Clancy’s murder trial is in the hands of a jury after a month of searing testimony about the deaths of her three children in 2023 and the psychiatric problems she experienced before she killed them.

Closing arguments concluded Thursday in the case, which has sparked debate online and demonstrations outside the courthouse over maternal well-being and the mental health system.

The jury deliberated Thursday afternoon and will resume at 9:30 a.m. on Friday.

A packed courtroom gallery listens during closing arguments in the Lindsay Clancy murder trial at Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Mass., Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool)

Lindsay Clancy waits for the jury to leave and start deliberations during her murder trial at Plymouth Superior Court in Plymouth, Mass., Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026. (Greg Derr/The Patriot Ledger via AP, Pool)