Lenox Hill Hospital

19th century In 1857, a group of community leaders recognized the need for medical services among the immigrant community and founded the German Dispensary. In 1862, the dispensary moved to larger quarters at 8 East 3rd Street. The German Hospital of the City of New York was incorporated by the New York State Legislature on April 13, 1861, and its first board of directors was organized on February 15, 1862. A plot of ground situated on Park Avenue and 77th Street was leased to the hospital by the city for 50 years at a nominal rent, and it purchased six additional lots on 76th Street. The plan was to erect two pavilions, extending along 77th Street, from Park to Lexington Avenues, with an administration building between them. The corner-stone of the western pavilion was laid on September 3, 1866. Completion was delayed by a shortage of funds, and the hospital opened on September 13, 1869. On March 26, 1866, the state legislature made the German Dispensary a branch of the German Hospital. A hospital annex, at the corner of 77th Street and Lexington Avenue, also donated by the Ottendorfer family, opened in 1901. The new dispensary building was opened on March 16, 1907. In 1908, a new isolation pavilion was inaugurated, as well as a pavilion for tuberculosis patients. In 1910, a separate building for intrathoracic surgery was begun on Lexington Avenue, adjoining the German Hospital Training School for Nurses. Ottendorfer's daughter donated $100,000 for the creation of the Abraham Jacobi Division for Children. The capacity of the German Hospital in 1915 was 310 beds. In April 1931, the hospital completed a new $2.5 million, 11-story building, with a facade made of light brick with limestone trim, on the 76th Street side of the hospital. The new building replaced two apartment houses and several workshops. In December 1931, Winston Churchill was hospitalized there for treatment of injuries suffered when he was hit by a car after failing to look left when crossing Fifth Avenue. The pioneering children's division, founded by Dr. Abraham Jacobi, was housed on the 11th floor, with other patient rooms on the 4th through 9th floors, and operating rooms on the 10th floor. Another two-story building, containing a ward service, lecture hall, and swimming pool, was added next to the main building on the 76th Street side in 1936, at a cost of $150,000. By 1939, the hospital had annually treated 12,115 patients with bed care, and another 23,099 visited the dispensary for treatment. Adding accident room patients, the hospital treated over 53,000 people in 1939. Because some care was given for free or part-pay, the hospital often ran an operating deficit, just as it did in 1939, when it lost $163,029, down a loss of over $200,000 the previous year, in 1938. The hospital's operating loss grew to $284,692 in 1945, which was then a record high. Due to a lack of funds, an anticipated additional new building was delayed for over 20 years, when the Second Century Development Program, designed to raise $10 million, was led by the hospital's president, James Wickersham. In 1957, on the hospital's 100th anniversary, it opened a $4.5 million, 12-story building on Park Avenue at 77th Street, with a glass and aluminum facade, and a capacity of 180 patient beds. The new building, named the Wollman Pavilion, also housed a mental health unit, and an entire floor was allocated for research on speech and hearing disorders, epilepsy, and hemophilia. In 1964, the Charles R. Lachman Community Health Center was added on the south side of 77th Street, between the Wollman Pavilion and the William Black Hall of Nursing, which opened in 1962 (the School of Nursing closed in 1973). The hospital opened its largest building, 12 stories tall, in 1976, located at Park Avenue and 76th Street, replacing the Ottendorfer Dispensary, at a cost of $20 million. The modern brick masonry structure, with a fortress-like facade, stood in stark contrast in architectural style of the rest of the hospital's buildings. The new building added 180 patient beds for an overall capacity of 690 beds. In 1943, the hospital sent a medical unit to England to maintain station hospitals for military personnel. Throughout the remainder of World War II, hospital staff members served in all theaters of war, including with combat forces in the European theater of operations after D-Day. In 1998, a jury awarded $49 million in an obstetrics case against the hospital, which was one of the largest medical malpractice verdicts in New York City history at that time. 21st century The hospital's building underwent masonry and roof restorations, conducted by Merrit Engineering Consultants, P.C., from 2007 to 2009. Façade restoration, waterproofing, and structural steel repairs were also conducted. On May 19, 2010, the hospital announced that an agreement had been finalized for it to join Northwell Health. In 2014, the old St. Vincent Hospital building that closed in 2010, became Lenox Hill HealthPlex, Manhattan's first freestanding emergency department. This facility is located at 30 7th Avenue between West 12th and 13th streets. This emergency department sees patients whether they come as a walk-in or via an ambulance. In 2020, Netflix released a documentary series, Lenox Hill, which was filmed at the hospital. The plan included a tower. Northwell's proposal, particularly the tower, was controversial among neighborhood residents, and a community group was formed to fight the plans. That April, the local Manhattan Community Board 8 recommended that the city not enact a zoning change that would allow the tower to proceed. In July 2025, the CPC tentatively approved Northwell Health's plan to spend $2 billion redeveloping the Lenox Hill Hospital site. the New York City Council approved the scaled-back version of the project that August. As part of the plan, the hospital would be increased to 475 beds, each within their own room. In addition, the new hospital would include a new maternal-care department and an expanded emergency department. == Significance ==

Contributions to modern medicine The hospital developed and implemented standards and practices that would become valuable components of modern medicine. In 1897, the hospital installed one of the first X-ray machines in America. Ten years later, the hospital established the first physical therapy department in the country. In response to what was becoming a growing public health threat, it was the first general hospital in the U.S. to open a tuberculosis division. In 1973, the Nicholas Institute of Sports Medicine and Athletic Trauma became the first hospital-based center in the nation for the study of sports medicine. Early on, the hospital established itself as one of the nation's leading hospitals for cardiac care. In 1938, the first angiocardiograph in the country was performed at the hospital. In 1955, the hospital became one of the first in New York City to open a cardiac catheterization laboratory. Ten years later, the hospital opened the first cardiac-care unit in the metropolitan New York area. In 1978, the first coronary angioplasties in the country were performed at Lenox Hill Hospital and at St. Mary's Hospital in San Francisco. In 1994, Lenox Hill Hospital surgeons pioneered minimally invasive direct coronary artery bypass surgery. In 2000, the hospital was the first in the U.S. to perform endoscopic radial artery harvesting. In 2000, Lenox Hill Hospital became the sponsor of Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital. In 2003, the first drug-coated stent approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was implanted at the hospital. It is also one of the first hospitals in the nation to acquire a state-of-the-art robotic cardiac system, which allows surgeons to perform minimally invasive heart-bypass surgery. In 2001, the hospital assembled a disaster team to care for casualties of the September 11 attacks at the World Trade Center. Emergency crews were sent to Ground Zero and supply runs to the area were conducted to aid the rescue workers. The hospital set up a free walk-in Crisis Counseling Center, staffed by the hospital's psychiatrists and therapists, and the blood donor center was expanded to accommodate the thousands of people who came to the hospital to give blood. In 2007, the hospital celebrated its 150th anniversary, and expanded its dedication to the New York City community by opening a new, state-of-the-art emergency department, the Anne and Isidore Falk Center for Emergency Care at Lenox Hill Hospital. Medical milestones and pioneers Many important milestones in the advancement of medical knowledge have been made at the hospital, including: • Introduction of antiseptic methods in obstetrics • Installation of one of the first X-ray machines in America in 1897 • First tuberculosis pavilion in any American hospital • First hemophilia center • Introduction of the technique for bone marrow examination in 1931 • Development of the specialty of thoracic surgery • First successful esophagectomy for carcinoma • First surgical treatment of undescended testicles • First angiocardiogram in the United States • First coronary angioplasty in the United States • Implantation of the first drug-eluting stent in the United States • First American hospital to use an operative 3D exoscope in Neurosurgery Many medical pioneers were early members of the hospital's attending staff. Among them were: • Henry Jacques Garrigues introduced antiseptic obstetrics to North America • Willy Meyer, M.D. performed some of the earliest pulmonary surgery in America • Abraham Jacobi, M.D. the father of American pediatrics • Leo Buerger, M.D. described the disease that bears his name • Carl Eggers, M.D., and Dewitt Stetten, M.D. founding members of the American College of Surgeons • Franz Torek, M.D. performed the first successful esophagectomy for carcinoma and also developed the surgical treatment of undescended testicles • William H. Stewart, M.D. a former director of radiology, performed the first angiocardiogram in the United States in 1938. • Simon Stertzer, M.D. of Lenox Hill Hospital in New York and Richard K. Myler, M.D. of St. Mary's Hospital in San Francisco performed the first coronary angioplasties in the United States on the same day, March 1, 1978 Recognition In 2021, Lenox Hill Hospital was ranked the No. 4 hospital in New York City as well as in New York State. It was ranked among the nation's top 50 hospitals in neurology & neurosurgery (#23), orthopedics (#25) and ear, nose & throat (#27), cardiology & heart surgery (#28), gynecology (#31), diabetes & endocrinology (#38) and geriatrics (#39) according to U.S. News & World Reports annual survey of America's Best Hospitals. ==Current use==

Lenox Hill Hospital provides a wide range of inpatient and outpatient medical, surgical, cardiovascular, orthopedic and obstetric services. The hospital has both primary care and specialty outpatient clinics, an ambulance service and an emergency department. Special programs and services include neurosurgery, sports medicine, interventional cardiology and a cardiovascular surgery program, a New York State-designated AIDS center program, a high-risk neonatal care service, an obstetric service, an ambulatory surgery program, a renal dialysis service, and a community health education and outreach program. Other licensed services include cystoscopy, diagnostic radiology services including CT and MRI scanning, nuclear medicine, and therapeutic radiology. Outpatient services include primary care medicine, pediatrics, prenatal care and family planning, physical therapy, audiology, speech/language pathology, and social work. The hospital also provides inpatient and outpatient adult mental health services. ==Notable people==

Faculty • David J. Langer is an American neurosurgeon and the chair of neurosurgery. He is a professor of neurosurgery and radiology at the Zucker School of Medicine. Langer was on the 2020 Netflix docu-series Lenox Hill. which featured the Lenox Hill Neurosurgery Department. Lenox Hill Neurosurgery ranked No. 23 in U.S. News & World Reports Best Hospitals for 2020–2021 as well as #28 in Newsweeks "World's Best Specialized Hospitals" ranking along with the specialties Cardiology and Orthopedics. Notable patient deaths == See also ==