If the Walls Could Talk Podcast ™ – Episode 2: “The Second Floor” 

An online search for “Edgewater Hospital” turns up all kinds of unflattering articles and pictures about the hospital’s final years. For example:

Fraud Ring Alleged at Chicago Hospital. Prosecutors Says Homeless Lured to Edgewater

Heartless Heart Doctor Sticks it to Patients

There’s a Hospital in Chicago That Looks Like Something Out of the Apocalypse

Episode 2: “The Second Floor” shares the sweeping changes that happened at Edgewater Hospital during the 1990s under Peter Rogan. He even changed the name to Edgewater Medical Center — for the sake of simplicity, we’ll continue to refer to it as Edgewater Hospital.

Peter Rogan managed to purchase the hospital in 1989 for a mere $1 million (and $10 in debt) and quickly improved the bottom line. Rogan streamlined and outsourced services while staffing fewer people. The new mantra at the hospital became: ‘anything to make a buck‘. Empty hospital floors turned into the sets for numerous movies, TV shows and music videos filmed there. Actors Ron Howard, Robert DeNiro, John Mahoney, and Kurt Russell all showed up at the hospital while they filmed Backdraft, Losing Isaiah and The Human Factor. 

You can see Edgewater Hospital in this dramatic scene of Backdraft. As part of their deal to shoot there, crews had to prominently feature an Edgewater Medical Center emblem in one scene. That emblem was made specifically for this movie and then taken down.

Within two years, Peter Rogan improved the hospital’s fortunes. The hospital was profitable by 1991…but whispers about how he turned it around quickly surfaced.

People know Edgewater Hospital as the birthplace of John Wayne Gacy, Jr. and Hillary Clinton — but Peter Rogan’s management team closed the maternity ward in the 1990s. Unlike most hospitals at the time, the hospital shifted their focus from newborns to senior citizens. Soon, the hospital was overrun by senior citizen patients who lived in neighborhoods miles away from Edgewater…many who didn’t need to be hospitalized. This left many employees scratching their heads and questioning what was happening.

Journalist Bruce Japsen investigated and uncovered some unusual and alarming data: many senior patients from faraway Chicago neighborhoods were ending up at Edgewater Hospital. These seniors would attend “free health screenings” put on at clinics run by Edgewater Hospital, and many were then told they needed follow-up care. Even if they weren’t sick, they were being shipped to a mysterious unit on Edgewater Hospital’s second floor. 

To further entice people to come to the hospital: they were offered a free lunch, limo rides and even cigarettes — if they agreed to be admitted to the hospital and have tests and procedures performed on them. One former employee shares how she wasn’t allowed on that unit and, if someone saw her, how she would get in trouble. Hear what happened on the secretive second floor and why she says it will “appall” you.

In 1994, Peter Rogan cashed in his $1 million investment when he sold Edgewater Hospital for over $30 million. Despite the sale, Peter somehow managed to remain CEO. He even purchased some of the surrounding buildings and parking lots and then leased them back to the hospital…at exorbitant rent prices. Even though Peter Rogan “sold” the hospital, he continued to profit from it after his management company scored a highly lucrative contract to manage day-to-day operations. All of this money changing hands raised red flags within the Illinois Attorney General’s office…who investigated.

The FBI later caught wind of what was happening at Edgewater Hospital and opened their own investigation. The feds had been investigating a fraud scheme at Doctor’s Hospital in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood that included many of the same dirty doctors that were at Edgewater Hospital. The FBI investigation would take several twists and turns before ultimately uncovering far more serious crimes. 

EDGEWATER HOSPITAL’S BOTTOM LINE:

• 1986-1988 -$26 million loss
• 1989 –$18.5 million loss
• 1990 –$2 million loss
• 1991 +$1.1 million profit
• 1993 +$2.5 million profit

“The Second Floor” – Episode 2 of If the Walls Could Talk Podcast

Did Peter Rogan really want to turn around the aging hospital or was he looking to milk it for all its worth? Listen to Episode 2: “The Second Floor” of If the Walls Could Talk Podcast. The entire series is now available.

If the Walls Could Talk Podcast™ on Patreon

Unlock bonus content, additional stories, interviews, and behind-the-scenes content by supporting If the Walls Could Talk Podcast™ on Patreon. You’ll get access to our weekly “Second Opinion” episodes. This week, learn more about Todd & Stephani’s chance encounter with Peter Rogan at a Northwest Indiana grocery store. Author and filmmaker John Borowski shares how John Wayne Gacy got a miniature golf course built in prison. He’ll also share some other chilling Gacy stories including what happened while he filmed outside the old hospital. Our “Cut for Time” segment of the podcast questions whether or not Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder was born at Edgewater Hospital.

John Borowski’s film is called “John Wayne Gacy: A Clown Can Get Away With Murder“. His comprehensive book “John Wayne Gacy: Hunting A Predator” includes countless police reports and chilling photos. 

Journalist Bruce Japsen covered the Edgewater Hospital story for Crain’s Modern Healthcare and the Chicago Tribune and now writes for Forbes. Follow him on Twitter.

Chicago History Podcast episode 302 shares some fun facts about what went into filming the movie Backdraft in Chicago.

The entire series of If the Walls Could Talk Podcast™ is now available. One easy way to support this independently-produced series is to leave If the Walls Could Talk a 5-star review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.