3. Rooms With Better Views Were Reserved for Patients Who Would Likely Die at the Ellis Island Hospital Complex
Up until it shuttered, the Ellis Island hospital complex had serviced over 1 million people. Impressively, nine out of the ten people that were admitted were ultimately cured and allowed to enter the United States. However, the future wasn’t always so bright for some patients. Although the facility was equipped with the latest, state-of-the-art technologies, 3,500 immigrants did die in the facility.
The room above, housed inside the Contagious and Infectious Disease Ward, is where patients were brought to if there was no hope for treatment. This was purposeful, as it provided what was regarded to be the best view in the hospital, providing a direct vantage point of the Statue of Liberty. In fact, the rooms with better views were often reserved for those with grim diagnoses.