Less than two months after a doctors’ group called for it to close, the McDonald’s restaurant at Grady Memorial Hospital is shutting down as of midnight Friday.
Grady announced the fast-food chain’s action, saying in a news release Friday that “no reason for the abrupt closure was provided.’’
The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine — a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization — erected three billboards around the Atlanta hospital to encourage its board members not to renew the restaurant’s lease, which was to expire late this month, the AJC reported recently.
![Billboard against fast food at hospitals](https://www.georgiahealthnews.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2016/06/clogged-arteries-hospital-food.jpg)
Karen Smith, senior dietitian for the Physicians Committee, said in a statement Friday, “Grady Hospital has taken an important step towards improving the health of its staff, patients and visitors. Artery-clogging burgers and milkshakes will no longer be steps from the cardiac unit.”
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The group, which has about 12,000 doctors as members, said in a May statement, “If the space in Grady’s parking garage currently occupied by the fast-food restaurant becomes vacant, the hospital could improve its food environment by expanding its offerings of heart-healthy, plant-based options.”
A Grady statement said Friday that the safety-net hospital “is actively exploring a number of options for this location that best serve the needs of our patients, visitors and staff.’’
Founded in 1985, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine is a nonprofit health organization that “promotes preventive medicine, conducts clinical research, and encourages higher standards for ethics and effectiveness in research.”
It has been pushing hospitals nationally to close fast-food outlets.
![Grady Memorial Hospital](https://www.georgiahealthnews.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2012/10/Grady-Exterior-with-Clinic-Building-e1462543631750.jpeg)
The group has urged hospitals to close on-premise locations of Atlanta-based Chick-fil-A, the AJC has reported.
The group in January installed billboards near Chick-fil-A’s south Fulton County headquarters and above a gas station on State Route 54 West in Fayetteville.
The group wants Chick-fil-A removed from Piedmont Fayette Hospital in Fayetteville, Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville and University Hospital in Augusta. The Physicians Committee said Chick-fil-A is in 19 U.S. hospitals.