“Oh, you live in Edgewater? I used to work at Edgewater Hospital,” a woman explained to Todd. “I was a nurse there in the early-’90s, and it was the shadiest and most corrupt place I ever worked. I was so happy when it finally closed down,” she added. 

“Really?” Todd responded…almost in disbelief. “I’ve always wondered what happened there that caused it to close.”

This conversation happened in 2008. By then, the Edgewater Hospital campus had been closed for six years and sat boarded up and abandoned in the middle of the quiet residential Edgewater neighborhood. Years earlier, the feds uncovered a massive fraud scheme happening at the hospital and cut off Medicare and Medicaid payments.

“They used to pay people from the streets to come in and pretend they had heart problems,” the nurse explained. “They would promise them 50 bucks or a pack of cigarettes and a warm place to sleep for a couple nights. But while those people were hospitalized, they’d do all kinds of tests and procedures on them. It was awful.” 

Todd couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“Oh, and the place was definitely haunted,” she added.

She told Todd that when she took the job at Edgewater Hospital, she moved from Minneapolis to Chicago. She believed working at Edgewater Hospital would be a huge step up in her career. Instead, the job turned into a nightmare. It was the longest 18-months of her young career…and is a part of her life she rarely speaks about. She even omitted it from her resume. 

Todd said he’ll never forget that conversation with the former Edgewater Hospital nurse. It was unexpected, chilling and ignited a search to learn what happened inside those walls. That curiosity eventually led to If the Walls Could Talk.  

Years later, Todd reached out to that nurse and asked if she would share her experience for this podcast. She politely declined. However, dozens of others spoke up. And you’ll hear from them in this podcast.

   * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

If the Walls Could Talk Podcast™ is a series about the history of Chicago’s Edgewater Hospital and the true crimes that destroyed it.

After opening in 1929, Edgewater Hospital established itself as Chicago’s premiere hospital. Under the guidance of its co-founder, Dr. Maurice Mazel, it was a leader in cardiac health and even developed the first ambulance for those suffering from a heart attack. Mazel steered the hospital for over half a century until his death in 1980. Then, things quickly fell apart. 

Dr. Maurice Mazel

Without a true successor to Mazel, the dated and aging hospital couldn’t keep up with the evolving healthcare industry. Edgewater Hospital was bleeding cash — it didn’t help that some employees were embezzling money.

A businessman named Peter Rogan wound up “saving” Edgewater from closing in 1989, but he did so in the worst possible way. After he took over, the hospital did just about anything to fill up its beds — including luring in seniors and those suffering from homelessness and addictions — and then subjected these patients to invasive and unnecessary heart procedures. This fraud scheme continued throughout the 1990s into the 2000s. The FBI investigated and learned that one Edgewater Cardiologist named Dr. Andrew Cubria performed hundreds of unnecessary procedures on his patients…simply to ring up their medical bills. As a result, at least 2 patients died. 

Medicare cut off reimbursement in late-2001 — which accounted for the majority of the hospital’s income. Edgewater Hospital abruptly closed shortly thereafter. But the drama didn’t end there. The hospital’s former owner, Peter Rogan, lost a $64 million civil suit brought on by the US government and, less than two weeks later, he fled to Canada. In all, Rogan left behind civil judgments totaling over $188 million.

Edgewater Hospital filed for bankruptcy in 2002 — meaning the city of Chicago was left to deal with an abandoned and decaying hospital…loaded with toxic medical waste, patient medical records and equipment. The hospital campus then became a magnet for crime and trespassers while those in the neighborhood begged for it to be torn down. Plans for redevelopment dragged on for years while the feds tried to bring the former owner to justice. All the while, a local politician’s wife made got rich selling real estate built on the hospital’s former land. 

Sarah Hoag Photography

Narrated by Todd Ganz and Stephani Young, If the Walls Could Talk™  recounts Edgewater Hospital’s tangled history and the true crimes that destroyed it.

Since debuting in 2021, If the Walls Could Talk Podcast peaked at #16 on Apple Podcasts History Chart and has been heard in dozens of countries all over the world. 

Multiple bonus episodes feature additional Edgewater Hospital history and an unbelievable (yet true) story about the mysterious murder of Teresita Basa. Basa was a nurse at Edgewater whose ghost is said to have returned from the grave to identify her killer. Basa’s accused killer, by the way, was another Edgewater Hospital employee. A second bonus episode covers the accused killer’s trial.