LSU Hospital Chief Explains Rope Found in Break Room

A noose found in a doctors’ break room at LSU Health Sciences Center might be a piece of rope fashioned with a knot and a loop used to treat orthopedic patients, the head of the facility said.

After a maintenance worker found the rope on Wednesday, administrators at the hospital and medical school notified federal authorities because they were concerned the rope with loops on each end might have been placed in the break room to intimidate blacks.

But on Thursday, Dr. John McDonald, the hospital’s top administrator, said the rope might be one used by surgeons to give traction to fracture patients.

To someone unfamiliar with medical procedures, the series of knots and loops could appear to be a hangman’s noose.

University police are investigating how the rope got there and they will turn over their findings to the U.S. attorney’s office and the FBI here.

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