PREVIEW: If the Walls Could Talk Podcast

A hospital is where we’re at our most vulnerable. We put our trust into trained medical experts to make us feel better. But what happens when the hospital puts profits before patients and does anything — and we do mean anything — to fill their hospital beds? If the Walls Could Talk Podcast is the historical account of the true crimes that destroyed Chicago’s Edgewater Hospital. 

Edgewater Hospital was once a premiere Chicago medical facility that slid from being a cutting edge institution into something that people called a “butcher shop” that performed hundreds of medically unnecessary procedures on patients. Two of those patients died. 

Commonly known as the birthplace of Hillary Clinton and John Wayne Gacy, Jr., Edgewater Hospital was once a leader in cardiac healthcare that catered to both those from the neighborhood and Hollywood elite. Its founder, Dr. Maurice Mazel, single-handedly led it from its inception in 1929 until he died in 1980. Aside from a scandal in the 1960s, the hospital’s reputation was impeccable under his watch.

In the years after Mazel’s death, the hospital entered a free-fall. The lack of a successor made the once-premiere hospital ill-equipped to handle all the changes in healthcare that happened in the 1980s. There were even stories of employees embezzling money. The cash-strapped hospital announced it needed a buyer to rescue it or else it would close its doors. 

In 1989, the hospital board sold to a healthcare consultant from Indiana named Peter Rogan. This decision proved fatal.

The hospital entered a period rife with egregious fraud. Doctors at Edgewater Hospital performed medically unnecessary procedures on hundreds of patients — some unwilling and others who faked symptoms in exchange for candy, cigarettes and a place to stay. Patient recruiters preyed on poor, elderly and those suffering from homelessness and sent them to Edgewater for treatments they sometimes didn’t need — this was all done to bill Medicare and Medicaid. The hospital’s business model depended on all of this dirty money flowing in. Edgewater Hospital went from a leader in cardiac care to one that was harming the human heart.

The feds investigated and dropped a 58-count indictment against hospital officials in 2001. The hospital eventually closed and filed for bankruptcy. Years of litigation followed with numerous doctors and one administrator heading to prison. Meanwhile, Peter Rogan lost two civil suits and was on the hook for nearly $190 million, but he fled to Canada. Left behind was a decaying Edgewater Hospital campus filled with medical equipment and records. The hospital buildings sat and rotted for well over a decade while awaiting redevelopment. During those years, Urban Explorers made it their home and documented what was left behind. They’re responsible for numerous photos we’ll share. 

“It’s a compelling story and a sad story. This is a snapshot into egregious healthcare fraud.”

-Bruce Japsen

Forbes.com

With the help of journalist Bruce Japsen who covered this story for Crain’s Modern Healthcare and the Chicago Tribune, If the Walls Could Talk Podcast will introduce you to the major players who helped build the hospital as well as those responsible for destroying it. You’ll hear whether justice was served and where they’re all at today. You’ll never believe what some of these folks are up to today!

Some 16 years after closing its doors, demo crews knocked down most of the former hospital campus to convert the remaining buildings into apartments. If the Walls Could Talk Podcast covers the tangled history of the true crimes that led to its closure. The podcast is narrated by Chicago radio veterans Stephani Young and Todd Ganz. 

Support If the Walls Could Talk Podcast on Patreon and unlock hours of bonus content, interviews and behind-the-scenes stories about the making of this podcast. The entire series of If the Walls Could Talk Podcast is now available. Please leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.