MEDIA, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) — Lawyers were in court Friday in Delaware County, asking a judge to put the brakes on Crozer Health’s proposed changes to Delaware County Memorial Hospital. The judge plans to rule early next week.
The injunction request was filed by the Foundation of Delaware County, which was set up in 2016 when Prospect Medical Holdings acquired Crozer-Keystone. Their argument is that Prospect agreed, at the time of the acquisition, not to close DCMH until 2026 without permission.
But lawyers for the hospital argue they don’t need permission because they aren’t closing the hospital; they’re just transitioning it into a behavioral health facility. And, they say, the sales agreement only refers specifically to a closure.
But Foundation president Frances Sheehan says they’re closing the intensive care unit and emergency department, and ending in-patient services, so in her mind, that’s a closure.
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“There is no opportunity for people in the Delaware County Memorial Hospital community to walk into the hospital that has existed for 100 years serving that community, walk into the emergency room, and know that they will receive care and be treated in that hospital as an acute care facility,” Sheehan said.
The hospital’s lawyers argue the sales agreement doesn’t specify what services must be offered.
The hearing was at times contentious, and other times repetitive, prompting Judge Robert Shenkin to ask if there were “any more dead horses to beat.”
Delaware County Council Chairwoman Monica Taylor says she’s hopeful the judge rules in favor of the injunction.
“It's really putting a strain on all of the neighboring hospital systems,” she said, including Lankenau, Mercy Fitzgerald and Riddle Hospitals, as services at DCMH have been cut.
Crozer’s plan is to make DCMH a 100-plus-bed behavioral health facility that will offer crisis care, rehab and detox, and inpatient acute psychiatric care.