# Los Angeles General Medical Center

Los Angeles General Medical Center (also known as LA General and formerly known as Los Angeles County+USC Medical Center, County/USC, County General or by the abbreviation LAC+USC) is a 600-bed public teaching hospital located at 2051 Marengo Street in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, and one of the largest academic medical centers in the United States. The hospital facility is owned by Los Angeles County and operated by the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services. Doctors are faculty of the Keck School of Medicine of USC, who oversee more than 1,000 medical residents being trained by the faculty. Additionally, the United States Navy sends doctors, nurses and corpsmen to train at the hospital, working alongside staff in the trauma center.
The facility is one of two adult Level I trauma centers (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 located a half mile away.

## Operations

Los Angeles General Medical Center is one of the largest public hospitals and medical training centers in the United States, and the largest single provider of healthcare in Los Angeles County. It provides healthcare services for the region's medically underserved, is a Level I trauma center and treats over 28 percent of the region's trauma victims (2005). It provides care for half of all sickle-cell anemia patients and those people living with AIDS in Southern California. Los Angeles General Medical Center provides a full spectrum of emergency, inpatient and outpatient services to all including indigent and Medi-Cal only recipients. These include medical, surgical, emergency/trauma, obstetrical, gynecological and pediatric services as well as psychiatric services for adults, adolescents and children.
Los Angeles General Medical Center is one of the busiest public hospitals in the Western United States, with nearly 39,000 inpatients discharged, and one million ambulatory care 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 centers in Los Angeles County and one of the few Level III Neonatal 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 Navy Trauma Training Center, allowing uniformed medical professionals valuable exposure to trauma cases during 30 day clinical rotations that prepare them to treat battlefield injury on the front lines with the United States Marine Corps, at sea with the United States Navy, or ashore at Fleet Hospitals and Shock Trauma Platoons.
In 2013, American Cancer Society 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.

## New facility

The original hospital, located at 1200 North State Street, opened in 1933. Designed by the coalition of architects Allied Architects Association, its Art-Deco construction earned it the nickname the "Great Stone Mother" and had 3,000 patient beds. The 1994 Northridge earthquake 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 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 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, Keck Hospital of USC, and the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center and Hospital.

## Transportation

The LA General Medical Center station on the El Monte Busway for the Metro J Line and Foothill Transit 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 (1857–1929).
* Kiko Bejines (1962–1983)
* Vera-Ellen (1921–1981)