Grady Memorial Hospital - History

History

It was first founded in 1890 (a decade after Saint Joseph's Infirmary, Atlanta's first) and opened in 1892, as an outgrowth of the Atlanta Benevolent Home. The original building (at 36 Butler Street) is now on the National Register of Historic Places and is known as Georgia Hall, where the hospital's human resources staff now work. The second Grady Hospital, at Butler Hall, opened in 1912 and was for whites only, with blacks being segregated at the Atlanta Medical College. The third hospital was at Hirsch Hall, and the current location is its fourth. Since 1945 the hospital has been run by the Fulton/DeKalb Hospital Authority.

The current facility was also built as a segregated institution, with one section serving Whites (Wings A & B; facing the city) and another section serving African-Americans (Wings C & D; facing the opposite direction). Even though it is a single building and the two sides are connected by a hallway (Wing E), the facility was referred to in the plural ("The Gradys") during the years of segregation.

CNN's medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta, who is Associate Chief of Neurosurgery at Grady, filmed a documentary at the hospital called Grady's Anatomy (a play on Grey's Anatomy) that aired in 2007 for CNN Special Investigations Unit. The documentary focused on four young medical residents and the daily stress of large hospital practice.