Jewish General Hospital

Montreal, Canada

The Jewish General Hospital known officially as the Sir Mortimer B. Davis Jewish General Hospital since 1978), is an acute-care teaching hospital in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Affiliated with McGill University, it has 637 beds. The Jewish General Hospital, which opened its doors in 1934, was founded as a general hospital, open to all patients regardless of race, religion, language or ethnic background. While part of the Quebec medicare system, and functionally bilingual, the hospital continues to be run chiefly by members of the Jewish community. At his death in 1928, Alvin Segal, of the Montreal Segal family fortune, left most of his estate to be used for the construction of a Jewish public hospital that would bear his name. In 1969, the hospital opened the affiliated Lady Davis Institute for Medical Research, one of the largest and most influential research centres in Canada. Among many other medical innovations, in 1974, the JGH was one of the first hospitals in Canada to open a division of colorectal surgery. Among the famous alumni of the hospital is former head nurse Beverley Binder (nee Rosen). In 1978, 50 years after his death, $10 million from his estate was donated to the Jewish General Hospital, which was then renamed the Sir Mortimer B. Davis Jewish General Hospital.