Business
HCA hospital to discontinue inpatient care
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Sept. 4, 2006
The troubled general acute care hospital carved out of a transaction to sell several HCA hospitals to Brentwood, Tenn.-based LifePoint Hospitals Inc., will be converted into an outpatient urgent care center instead.
HCA officials on Aug. 1 announced plans to discontinue inpatient services at Putnam General Hospital in Hurricane, W.Va., by Aug. 29, blaming ongoing litigation brought by more than 100 patients who have filed malpractice lawsuits against an orthopedic surgeon who used to practice there. The surgeon has denied wrongdoing, and the cases are in their early stages in court.
"Personal injury trial lawyers have filed lawsuits to block [Putnam's] sale to LifePoint and engaged in an ongoing campaign that has unfairly discredited our employees and affiliated physicians. These actions are devastating to the hospital, and they jeopardize our ability to continue providing high-quality inpatient care in the future," said Margaret Lewis, president of HCA's Capital Division, in a written statement.
Officials said the hospital, licensed for 68 beds, has seen a drop in its average patient census and lost $2.4 million since 2005.
Putnam was originally part of an agreement to sell five rural hospitals to LifePoint, but it was carved out and the transaction was restructured without it.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2006/09/04/bibf0904.htm.
