Los Angeles General Medical Center (also known as LA General and formerly known as Los Angeles County+USC Medical Center, County/USC, or by the abbreviation LAC+USC) is a 600-bed

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...

teaching hospital A teaching hospital is a hospital or medical centre that provides medical education and training to future and current health professionals. Teaching hospitals are almost always affiliated with one or more universities and are often co-located ...

located at 2051 Marengo Street in the

Boyle Heights Boyle is an English, Irish and Scottish surname of Gaelic, Anglo-Saxon or Norman origin. In the northwest of Ireland it is one of the most common family names. Notable people with the surname include: Disambiguation *Adam Boyle (disambiguation), ...

neighborhood of

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

and one largest academic medical centers in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The hospital facility is owned by

Los Angeles County Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, with 9,861,224 residents estimated as of 2022. It is the ...

and operated by the

Los Angeles County Department of Health Services Los Angeles County Department of Health Services (abbreviated DHS and LADHS) operates the public hospitals and clinics in Los Angeles County, and is the United States' second largest municipal health system, after NYC Health + Hospitals. DHS op ...

. Doctors are faculty of the

Keck School of Medicine of USC The Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California teaches and trains physicians, biomedical scientists and other healthcare professionals, conducts medical research, and treats patients. Founded in 1885, it is the second oldest ...

, who oversee more than 1,000

medical residents Residency or postgraduate training is specifically a stage of graduate medical education. It refers to a qualified physician (one who holds the degree of MD, DO, MBBS, MBChB), veterinarian ( DVM or VMD) , dentist ( DDS or DMD) or podiatrist ( ...

being trained by the faculty. The facility is one of two adult

Level I trauma center A trauma center (or trauma centre) is a hospital equipped and staffed to provide care for patients suffering from major traumatic injuries such as falls, motor vehicle collisions, or gunshot wounds. A trauma center may also refer to an emergenc ...

s (providing the highest level of surgical care to trauma patients) operated by Los Angeles County; the other is Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. The hospital was renamed in 2023 to a name resembling its original name, due to confusion with the privately operated

Keck Hospital of USC The Keck Hospital of USC, formerly USC University Hospital, is a private 401–licensed bed teaching hospital of the University of Southern California (USC). The hospital is part of the USC Keck School of Medicine, it is located on the USC Healt ...

located a half mile away as well as the Keck School of Medicine, whose campus is adjacent to LA General.

Operations

Los Angeles General Medical Center is one of the largest public

hospital A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emerge ...

s and medical training centers in the

, and the largest single provider of

healthcare Health care or healthcare is the improvement of health via the prevention, diagnosis, treatment, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in people. Health care is delivered by health profe ...

. It provides healthcare services for the region's medically underserved, is a Level I

trauma center A trauma center (or trauma centre) is a hospital equipped and staffed to provide care for patients suffering from major trauma, major traumatic injuries such as Falling (accident), falls, motor vehicle collisions, or gunshot wounds. A trauma cent ...

and treats over 28 percent of the region's

trauma Trauma most often refers to: *Major trauma, in physical medicine, severe physical injury caused by an external source *Psychological trauma, a type of damage to the psyche that occurs as a result of a severely distressing event *Traumatic inju ...

victims (2005). It provides care for half of all

sickle-cell anemia Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a group of blood disorders typically inherited from a person's parents. The most common type is known as sickle cell anaemia. It results in an abnormality in the oxygen-carrying protein haemoglobin found in red bl ...

patients and those people living with

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...

. Los Angeles General Medical Center provides a full spectrum of

emergency An emergency is an urgent, unexpected, and usually dangerous situation that poses an immediate risk to health, life, property, or environment and requires immediate action. Most emergencies require urgent intervention to prevent a worsening ...

inpatient A patient is any recipient of health care services that are performed by healthcare professionals. The patient is most often ill or injured and in need of treatment by a physician, nurse, optometrist, dentist, veterinarian, or other health ca ...

and

outpatient A patient is any recipient of health care services that are performed by healthcare professionals. The patient is most often ill or injured and in need of treatment by a physician, nurse, optometrist, dentist, veterinarian, or other health care ...

services to all including indigent and Medi-Cal only recipients. These include medical,

surgical Surgery ''cheirourgikē'' (composed of χείρ, "hand", and ἔργον, "work"), via la, chirurgiae, meaning "hand work". is a medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a person to investigate or treat a pat ...

, emergency/trauma,

obstetrical Obstetrics is the field of study concentrated on pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period. As a medical specialty, obstetrics is combined with gynecology under the discipline known as obstetrics and gynecology (OB/GYN), which is a surgic ...

gynecological Gynaecology or gynecology (see spelling differences) is the area of medicine that involves the treatment of women's diseases, especially those of the reproductive organs. It is often paired with the field of obstetrics, forming the combined area ...

and

pediatric Pediatrics ( also spelled ''paediatrics'' or ''pædiatrics'') is the branch of medicine that involves the medical care of infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. In the United Kingdom, paediatrics covers many of their youth until the ...

services as well as

psychiatric Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of mental disorders. These include various maladaptations related to mood, behaviour, cognition, and perceptions. See glossary of psychiatry. Initial psychi ...

services for adults, adolescents and children. Los Angeles General Medical Center is one of the busiest public hospitals in the

Western United States The Western United States (also called the American West, the Far West, and the West) is the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. As American settlement in the U.S. expanded westward, the meaning of the term ''the Wes ...

, with nearly 39,000 inpatients discharged, and one million

ambulatory care Ambulatory care or outpatient care is medical care provided on an outpatient basis, including diagnosis, observation, consultation, treatment, intervention, and rehabilitation services. This care can include advanced medical technology and procedu ...

patient visits each year. The Emergency Department is one of the world's busiest, with more than 150,000 visits per year. LA General operates one of only three

burn A burn is an injury to skin, or other tissues, caused by heat, cold, electricity, chemicals, friction, or ultraviolet radiation (like sunburn). Most burns are due to heat from hot liquids (called scalding), solids, or fire. Burns occur mainl ...

centers in Los Angeles County and one of the few Level III

Neonatal An infant or baby is the very young offspring of human beings. ''Infant'' (from the Latin word ''infans'', meaning 'unable to speak' or 'speechless') is a formal or specialised synonym for the common term ''baby''. The terms may also be used to ...

Intensive Care Units in Southern California. LA General is also the home of the Los Angeles County College of Nursing and Allied Health, which has prepared registered nurses for professional practice since its founding in 1895. Los Angeles General Medical Center also serves as the host facility for the U.S. Navy's Trauma Training Center, allowing uniformed medical professionals valuable exposure to trauma cases that prepare them to treat battlefield injury on the front lines with the United States Marine Corps, at sea with the Navy, or ashore at Fleet Hospitals and Shock Trauma Platoons. In 2013,

American Cancer Society The American Cancer Society (ACS) is a nationwide voluntary health organization dedicated to eliminating cancer. Established in 1913, the society is organized into six geographical regions of both medical and lay volunteers operating in more than ...

awarded Los Angeles General Medical Center with the Harold P. Freeman Award in recognition of the hospital's achievements to reduce cancer disparities among medically underserved populations. Front Entrance, LA County USC Medical Center

Front Entrance, LA County USC Medical Center

New facility

The original hospital, located at 1200 State Street, opened in 1933. Designed by the coalition of architects

Allied Architects Association Allied Architects Association was a coalition of Los Angeles-based architects founded in 1921 to design public buildings. Participating architects included Octavius Morgan, Reginald Davis Johnson, George Edwin Bergstrom, David C. Allison, Myron ...

, its

Art-Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the United ...

construction earned it the nickname the "Great Stone Mother" and had 3,000 patient beds. The

1994 Northridge earthquake The 1994 Northridge earthquake was a moment 6.7 (), blind thrust earthquake that occurred on January 17, 1994, at 4:30:55 a.m. PST in the San Fernando Valley region of the City of Los Angeles. The quake had a duration of approximately ...

on January 17, 1994, renewed concerns about building safety codes, and specifically those for hospitals. The California Hospital Seismic Safety Law was signed into law on September 21, 1994. The new law took the 1200 State Street building out of compliance of earthquake and fire safety codes. To address the problem, a new modern facility was proposed and constructed nearby, at 2051 Marengo Street. Designed by a joint venture of HOK and LBL Associated Architects, the new $1 billion hospital consists of three linked buildings: a clinic tower, a diagnostic and treatment tower, and an inpatient tower, in total supporting 600 patient beds. The new facility has a larger number of

intensive care Intensive care medicine, also called critical care medicine, is a medical specialty that deals with seriously or critically ill patients who have, are at risk of, or are recovering from conditions that may be life-threatening. It includes pro ...

beds to handle patients in the aftermath of disasters. The new facility was ready by 2010, and on July 23 of that year, the new hospital was opened. Transfer of all

inpatients A patient is any recipient of health care services that are performed by healthcare professionals. The patient is most often ill or injured and in need of treatment by a physician, nurse, optometrist, dentist, veterinarian, or other health car ...

from Women's and Children's Hospital and the 1200 State Street building made the retirement of the original hospital complex official. The old building at 1200 State Street still stands. The Wellness Center, on the first floor of the old building, was opened in 2014. It is open to the public and includes offices for nonprofit organizations, community outreach and classes for wellness activities, a dance studio, a small YMCA on State Street, and extensive new landscaping. While this building no longer meets the California Hospital Seismic Safety Law, it does meet current seismic standards for non-hospital use. In 2020, the original pediatrics and obstetrics ward was torn down in order to be replaced by affordable housing.

History

The Los Angeles County Hospital and the University of Southern California Medical School were first affiliated in 1885, five years after USC was founded. It was originally established as a 100-bed hospital with 47 patients. The present-day LA General complex is adjacent to the University of Southern California Health Sciences Campus, which includes the USC Keck School of Medicine, USC School of Pharmacy,

, and the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center and Hospital.

Transportation

The

LA County+USC Medical Center station LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on Figure 8 ( ...

on the

El Monte Busway The El Monte Busway (also known as the I-10 ExpressLanes) is a shared-use express bus corridor (transitway, busway) and high occupancy toll lane, high occupancy toll (HOT) lanes running along Interstate 10 in California, Interstate 10 between Un ...

for the Metro J Line and

Foothill Transit Foothill Transit is a public transit agency that is government funded by 22 member cities in the San Gabriel and Pomona valleys. It operates a fixed-route bus public transit service in the San Gabriel Valley region of eastern Los Angeles Cou ...

Silver Streak is located within walking distance from LA General. Additionally, Metro lines 78, 106, 251, 605 serve the hospital.

Deaths

George de Rue Meiklejohn George de Rue Meiklejohn (; August 26, 1857 – April 19, 1929) was an American politician who served as the fifth lieutenant governor of Nebraska under Governor John Milton Thayer and a member of the United States House of Representatives for Ne ...

(1857–1929). *

Kiko Bejines Francisco "Kiko" Bejines (January 1, 1962 – September 4, 1983) was a professional boxer from Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. He was a top-rated Bantamweight who fought for the WBC's world Bantamweight title, dying days after his championship bout ...

(1962–1983) * Vera-Ellen (1921–1981)

References

External links

Official website

This hospital in the CA Healthcare Atlas
A project by OSHPD {{DEFAULTSORT:Los Angeles County Usc Medical Center Hospitals in Los Angeles Hospitals in Los Angeles County, California County hospitals in California Teaching hospitals in California Keck School of Medicine of USC Skyscrapers in Los Angeles University of Southern California buildings and structures Hospitals established in 1878 1878 establishments in California Hospital buildings completed in 1933 Hospital buildings completed in 2010

Medical Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care practic ...

Healthcare in Los Angeles Boyle Heights, Los Angeles Art Deco architecture in California Trauma centers Allied Architects Association buildings Public hospitals in the United States Abandoned hospitals in the United States