(often abbreviated to "Mass General" or just "MGH") is a
Teaching Hospital of
Harvard Medical School and biomedical research facility in
Boston, Massachusetts .
Founded in
1811 , it is owned and operated by
Partners HealthCare (which also owns
Brigham And Women's Hospital ). It is the third oldest general hospital in the
United States , and the oldest and largest in
New England .
It was at MGH in
1846 that
Ether was first used in medical practice. The
Ether Dome still exists and is one of the oldest operating theatres in existence.
The hospital has 893 beds and admits over 44,000 patients each year. The surgical staff performs over 30,000 operations yearly. The
Obstetrics service handles over 3,500 births each year. The hospital handles over 1 million outpatients each year at is main campus, as well as its five satellite facilities in Boston at Back Bay, Charlestown, Chelsea, Everett, and Revere. In the fall of 2004, the ''
Yawkey Center for Outpatient Care'' opened. This 440,000 square feet, ten floor facility is the largest and most comprehensive outpatient building in New England.
With more than 10,000 employees, the hospital is the largest nongovernment employer in Boston. It is sometimes jokingly described as "The
Medical-Industrial Complex ."
Massachusetts General Hospital is affiliated with
Harvard Medical School and is its original teaching hospital. MGH conducts the largest hospital-based research program in the United States, with an annual research budget of more than $400 million.
Though it has its own chief of psychiatry, MGH is closely affiliated with nearby
McLean Hospital , which is also affiliated with
Harvard Medical School .
MGH is considered one of the best hospitals in the world (hence the in-jest nickname, "Man's Greatest Hospital"). It consistently ranks as one of the country's top hospitals in ''
U.S. News And World Report ''.
MGH is located at 55 Fruit Street in Boston, Massachusetts. The campus is in an area formerly known as the
West End , adjacent to the
Charles River and
Beacon Hill . The closest
MBTA stop is
Charles/MGH on the Red Line. Ironically, Charles/MGH is the only stop on the main branch of the Red Line that is not handicapped accessible, although renovations are underway.
- MGH distributes Shasta soda beverages to its patients. All vending facilities vend Coca-Cola products. There are four main food service areas for the General Public . They include the ''Eat Street Cafe'' in the lower level of the Ellison Building, the ''Blossom Street Cafe'' in the Cox lobby, ''Coffee Central'', and a cafe in the Yawkey outpatient center.
- MGH is referred to as "MBH" or "Man's Best Hospital" in Samuel Shem 's satirical novel, '' The House Of God ''.
- There have been at least three mentions of Massachusetts General Hospital in fictional television series and movies:
- --- In the long-running series '' M---A---S---H '', the character Major Charles Emerson Winchester III was said to have previously been the hospital's Head of Thoracic Surgery
- --- In the series '' Arrested Development '', Tobias Fünke worked at the hospital as chief resident during his psychiatry training
- --- In the series '' Alias '', Arvind Sloan mentions that Sidney's psychiatrist trained at the hospital.
- --- In the movie '' Sleeping With The Enemy '', an MGH neurologist gives the characters of Julia Roberts and Patrick Bergen a ride on his sailboat off the coast of Cape Cod.
- --- In the movie '' Malice '', the lead character played by Alec Baldwin is an MGH-trained surgeon with a "God complex".
