Pediatrics at the University of Chicago dated back to 1927 when the university opened up the Home for Destitute and Crippled Children. In 1938 the University combined their pediatric and maternity hospitals into one facility. In 1967, the University of Chicago Medicine’s Wyler Children's Hospital opened in a wing of the adult hospital. The hospital had a capacity of 140 beds and 95,000 square feet. Wyler was located one block south of the new Comer Children's Hospital. The hospital began construction in 2001 and was funded in part from a $21 million donation by Gary and Frances Comer. The plan included 240,000 square feet and 7 floors. The new design included features requested by the patients and families from included larger windows and expanded parent sleeping areas and was designed by Atlanta based Stanley Beaman & Sears. In total, Comer was built at a cost of $68 million. In August 2010, protests erupted outside of the hospital over the death of Damian Turner, an 18-year-old who was killed by gunshot. At the time the only trauma center on campus was Comer Children's, treating trauma patients up to age 15. Hospital administrators committed to building a new adult trauma center and expanded the age limit for Comer's trauma center to age 18. In 2010 a lawsuit was filed against Comer Children's for treating more babies in their neonatal intensive care unit than they were licensed to. They were fined $5 million as a result of the lawsuit. In 2013 members of the Stephen family donated $10 million to the NICU for expansion. It was renamed to the Margaret M. and George A. Stephen Neonatal Intensive Care Unit to honor the donation. In 2019 the hospital announced a partnership with Advocate Children's Hospital and NorthShore University HealthSystem's pediatric division to help provide better pediatric care for children. The alliance is opening a joint 35,000-square-foot outpatient pediatric center in Wilmette. The alliance allows these smaller hospitals to compete with the nationally ranked Lurie Children's Hospital.
Notable features and awards
Comer Children's Hospital features one of the only Level 1 Pediatric Trauma Centers in Chicago and the region. The hospital features an American Academy of Pediatrics verified Level IV NICU with 71 beds. In 2013 U.S. News and World Report ranked the hospital as #45 in cancer, #40 in diabetes and endocrinology, #36 in gastroenterology, and #40 in neonatology. In 2014 U.S. News and World Report ranked the hospital as #27 in the U.S. in diabetes and endocrinology. The hospital ranked as the second best children's hospital in Chicago on the 2020-21 U.S. News and World Report: Best Children's Hospital rankings. In 2021 the hospital ranked as #47 in Pediatric Diabetes and Endocrinology and #35 in Pediatric Gastroenterology & GI Surgery on the U.S. News and World Report.
