MGH receives historic gift: $35m for ER and burn unit

Massachusetts General Hospital has received a $35 million donation for its burn unit and emergency department from media mogul Sumner Redstone. It was the largest gift in the hospital's history.

Redstone, who nearly died in a 1979 Boston hotel fire and was treated for third-degree burns at Mass. General, has a long history with the hospital and had previously donated $6 million to the burn unit. Of the current gift, $20 million will go toward research in burn and trauma care and a renovation of the unit.

The hospital will use the other $15 million to improve access in the emergency department, which will be renamed The Sumner M. Redstone Emergency Department.

Mass. General president Dr. Peter Slavin said that since many burn patients are stabilized in the emergency room, Redstone saw helping that department as a natural extension of his relationship with the burn unit.

The emergency department is struggling to care for a growing number of patients, many of whom experience long waits for care or for hospital beds.

The donation will pay for various stages of expansion of the emergency room, including four new triage rooms.

The hospital also plans a significant expansion of the emergency room as part of a multimillion-dollar building it plans to complete in 2011. That renovation will add another three triage rooms, a pediatric waiting area, and increase the number of patient bays from 44 to 60.

Redstone, 83, is also giving $35 million to Cedars-Sinai Prostate Cancer Center in Los Angeles and FasterCures/The Center for Accelerating Medical Solutions in Washington, D.C.

"Advancements in research and medical science are creating a better world and a higher quality of life for all of us. Like many, I have personally benefited from these advancements," Redstone said in a statement.

Material from wire services was used in this report.