PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office has filed a motion forcing Prospect Crozer, the owner of Delaware County Memorial Hospital in Drexel Hill, to reopen its emergency room.
Attorney General and Gov.-elect Josh Shapiro filed a petition in the Delaware County Court of Common Pleas on Tuesday, requesting that Prospect Crozer should be held in contempt of court for not keeping the hospital’s emergency room in operation, as a court ordered.
During a hearing on Oct. 11, a judge ordered Prospect Crozer to stop its effort to convert the hospital into a 100-bed mental health facility, as it announced it would do on Sept. 21.
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The court also ordered Prospect Crozer to "maintain all services presently offered at Delaware County Memorial Hospital and all present operations of Delaware County Memorial Hospital and shall not directly engage in any activity that would materially and adversely affect such services or operations."
Prospect Crozer closed the hospital’s emergency department on Nov. 7.
The attorney general’s office said that the hospital continued to keep staffing at “unacceptably low levels” and the Department of Health agreed to suspend DCMH’s emergency room operations.
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Shapiro is also asking that Prospect Crozer be fined $100,000 for each day emergency services are suspended. As of the date of the filing, the requested fine totaled $800,000.
The Foundation for Delaware County joined the state’s lawsuit. Prospect Crozer has until Dec. 5 to respond to the suit.
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