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LaRocca resigns post as hospital district attorney

Nicholas LaRocca on Tuesday resigned his post as attorney for Hospital Service District No. 2, which is in the middle of negotiations with Ochsner Health System aimed at bringing in the Jefferson Parish company to manage Teche Regional Medical Center.
“I have expressed to the board that we have a fundamental disagreement on the way this matter has been handled and is being handled,” LaRocca said in a Wednesday interview, “and I cannot continue to represent them under these circumstances.”
LaRocca wouldn’t be specific about his reasons for resigning the post he has held since 1997. But he said that disagreement extends to dealings with LifePoint Health, which has operated the Morgan City hospital since 2005 under a lease with the hospital district. Nashville-based LifePoint, which was recently acquired by a capital management company, has announced that it is giving up its Louisiana operations.
The hospital district and LifePoint announced a preliminary agreement in which LifePoint would continue to operate Teche Reigonal until Dec. 31. But as the end of the year grows closer and negotiations with Ochsner continue, the district has threatened to take LifePoint to court if it doesn’t agree to stay until released by the district – presumably when Ochsner is ready to assume management of the hospital.
An attempt to reach hospital district Chairman Heath Hoffpauir for comment wasn't immediately successful.

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