Crozer Health closure: Nurses, doctors, workers rally to keep their jobs after closure announcement
The Brief
Prospect Medical Holdings, the Texas-based healthcare company behind Crozer Health, announced it will start to wind down operations at the Delaware County medical center.
Doctors, nurses and faculty members rallied Tuesday to fight for their jobs one last time.
MEDIA, Pa. - Supporters of the troubled Crozer Healthcare System of Delaware County rallied in support of the hospitals Tuesday.
Meanwhile, a lawyer told a Texas bankruptcy judge it is time to close them.
What we know
Motorists blew their horns as they passed a sprawling rally on a hill outside Crozer Hospital, drawing cheers Tuesday.
About 100 nurses, doctors and workers of the troubled healthcare system gathered to protest its pending closure even begging for a last-minute savior.
Prospect Medical Holdings of California, the owner of the Crozer-Chester Medical Center of Upland and Taylor Hospital of Ridley Park, plans to shutter the hospitals in 30 days after efforts to find a buyer collapsed.
The for-profit owner was hammered in the noon rally accused of stripping the systems of its value and then shutting it down.
What they're saying
Peggy Malone leads the unionized nurses at Crozer.
"Who's going to tell the mother whose child dies of an asthma attack that her child died because we couldn't get close enough to be able to save her child," said Malone.
Tom Polizzi is a Crozer social worker. "We should all be angry this isn't a tragedy this is a crime- -failure by design," said Polizzi.
Patient advocate Melanie McKendry told the crowd, "We have patients who've called us nonstop distraught begging and asking us where we're going, and we don't have an answer."
In a mid-afternoon Texas bankruptcy hearing, a lawyer for Prospect argued that without a new buyer the only option was the orderly closure of the Pennsylvania hospitals.
Defending Prospect he said, it did not put profits over patients.
Critics disagree.
Max Cooper is a Crozer emergency room doctor.
"The eyes of Delaware County are set on our elected officials and set on the AG's office. We're hoping you can claw back millions of dollars from Prospect's cold, dead body," said Cooper.
What's next
Crozer is expected to divert ambulances from the hospital early Wednesday morning.
Patients are to be sent to other hospitals with nurses claiming inside they're being pressured to quickly get patients out.
The Source
The information in this story is from Crozer Medical System employees.
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