No Females Above the Twelfth Floor!

In the mid- to late sixties I did my rotating internship and pediatric residency at Charity Hospital, on the LSU service.  I “lived” in Room 1436 on the fourteenth floor the entire time.  Any of you who were there in those days will remember that no females were allowed above the twelfth floor without a “pass” issued at the information desk near the front entrance on the ground floor.  The only exception were the few female housecleaning ladies employed by the hospital.  The thirteenth to eighteenth floors contained the bedrooms assigned to all of the male interns and residents, and the nineteenth floor had a gymnasium.  Each floor also had one large room with a television set.  Watching “Dr. Morgus” and his assistant Chopsley was really entertaining! The female interns and residents “lived” across Tulane Avenue in the Butterworth Building.  In the Butterworth Building, no men were allowed beyond the front entrance hall.  In those years of my medical training, my only female visitor was my mother, who wanted to see what my room at Charity Hospital looked like.  In spite of no air conditioning (large ceiling fans kept things moderately tolerably cool in the summer), being on call thirty-six hours and off call twelve hours, and having only one female visitor during those years (my mother!) I do have very fond memories of my whole medical training experience at Charity Hospital.

Skip to toolbar