Massachusetts General Hospital

Massachusetts General Hospital, commonly known as Mass General or MGH, is a major teaching hospital located at 55 Fruit Street in the West End of Boston, Massachusetts. The hospital was chartered in 1811 and admitted its first patient in 1821, making it the third-oldest general hospital in the United States. Its original building was designed by Charles Bulfinch and remains part of the much larger modern hospital campus. The building contains the historic Ether Dome, where William T. G. Morton gave the first successful public demonstration of ether anaesthesia during surgery in 1846. Massachusetts General Hospital later became closely associated with Harvard Medical School and developed into one of Boston’s largest medical and research institutions.

Massachusetts General Hospital has appeared in The Carey Treatment (1972), Coma (1978) and Ted (2024–). Its real hospital buildings have been used both to represent fictional Boston hospitals and, in Ted, as Massachusetts General Hospital itself.

In The Carey Treatment (1972), Massachusetts General Hospital is used as part of the fictional Boston Memorial Hospital, where pathologist Dr Peter Carey begins a new job after moving from California. Much of the story revolves around the hospital after the teenage daughter of its chief of staff dies following an illegal abortion and Carey’s colleague Dr David Tao is accused of performing it. Carey begins investigating the death himself, uncovering connections involving stolen morphine, blackmail and members of the hospital staff. The production filmed extensively on location in Boston, with Massachusetts General Hospital providing part of the real hospital setting for Boston Memorial.

In Coma (1978), Massachusetts General Hospital was one of the real medical facilities used to create the fictional Boston Memorial Hospital. The thriller follows surgical resident Dr Susan Wheeler as she becomes suspicious after an unusually large number of otherwise healthy patients fall into irreversible comas following routine operations. Her investigation eventually leads from the hospital to the sinister Jefferson Institute, where comatose patients are secretly being maintained for an organ-trafficking operation. Hospital material was filmed at Massachusetts General Hospital as well as Boston City Hospital, while other parts of Boston Memorial and the Jefferson Institute were filmed at separate locations in Massachusetts and California.

In Ted (2024–), Massachusetts General Hospital appears in the season 2 finale, “Fraudcast News”. After Matty Bennett becomes increasingly angry about John’s lack of plans following high school, his shouting and agitation culminate in a heart attack. When the story moves to Matty receiving treatment, an establishing shot clearly identifies Massachusetts General Hospital as the hospital where he has been admitted. The exterior and hospital name are visible before the episode moves inside to Matty and the Bennett family. His doctor warns that he must avoid anything that could raise his blood pressure, leading John and Ted to desperately try to prevent him from learning the result of the O. J. Simpson trial.

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