Joseph Bensadon

Joseph Bensadon was born in New York, the oldest of Jacob Bensadon and Abigail Jacobs Bensadon’s three children. Brought up in Charleston, he studied at the College of Charleston and the Medical Society of South Carolina, earning his M.D. in 1838.

Following his service in the United States Army during the Mexican War, Bensadon settled in New Orleans and opened a private practice. He soon became acquainted with philanthropist Judah Touro, who was one of his patients. When Touro founded the hospital that would bear his name, in 1852, he engaged Bensadon as its first director. Founded initially to care for seamen, the Touro Infirmary later served the entire community. It housed 28 patients in a converted waterfront plantation house, where Bensadon served as chief and often sole physician from its opening until he enlisted in the Confederate Army as a surgeon in 1861. At the conclusion of the Civil War, Bensadon returned to New Orleans and set up a private practice which he maintained until his death a few years later.

Joseph Bensadon

mid–19th century