Patients to suffer as Massachusetts hospitals close due to bankrupt health care company, staff say
AYER, Massachusetts — When Christina Hernon was 5 years old, her throat swelled from an infection and her mother rushed her to a local Massachusetts hospital in the middle of the night. She couldn’t breathe, had a seizure, and was about to die when a doctor saved her by inserting a tube down her throat.
Hernon is now an emergency room physician at one of two hospitals in the state that are due to closure Saturday. She and others among the 1,250 affected employees at Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer and Carney Hospital in Boston believe patients like her will suffer and possibly die from the closures because they won’t have time to travel to other, more distant hospitals.
“I think there’s definitely going to be negative consequences,” Hernon said. “Adding 20, 25 minutes or more of travel time can be the difference between life and death.”
Staff are furious because they say behind the failure of the Dallas-based company that owns the hospitals, Steward Health Care, lies a story of alleged corporate greed involving one of their own.
Former Massachusetts heart surgeon Ralph de la Torre, Steward’s founder and chief executive, pulled more than $100 million from the company before it filed for bankruptcy in May, according to lawsuits and bankruptcy filings. The company had previously cashed in by selling all of its hospitals for $1.2 billion and then leasing them back to the new owners. The company described that model as “asset-light” and designed to prioritize patient care.
But a lawsuit filed by Aya Healthcare in Texas claims that during the COVID-19 pandemic, Steward chose to pay out money to its shareholders instead of paying bills and keeping critical hospitals operating at peak capacity. Aya claims Steward owes it $45 million after failing to pay the hospital nurses it provided.
The lawsuit claims de la Torre used ill-gotten gains to fund a lavish lifestyle, including purchasing two luxury yachts worth more than $65 million. In recent weeks, as Hernon and other staff members fought to keep their hospitals open, de la Torre and his family were on vacation at the Paris Olympicswatching the equestrian dressage events at the Palace of Versailles.
A spokesman for Mr. de la Torre said that under the terms of the bankruptcy, he had no authority to decide which hospitals would be sold or closed. He was “unfortunately on a planned and paid family vacation last year” when the decision to close the two Massachusetts hospitals was announced in late July, the spokesman added.
“Of course it feels like a betrayal,” Hernon said. “I think it would feel a lot like the same kind of betrayal if he wasn’t a doctor. But the fact that he is, it’s hard to understand how this could have happened. The goals have shifted from protecting and caring for patients, and ensuring their health and well-being, to such destructive measures.”
In Nashoba Valley, where Hernon works, signs urging action to keep the hospital open dot the parking lot, and pink hearts and writing on the emergency room window read, “Save NVMC. Save Lives!”
The damage caused by Steward’s failure is considerable. After starting in Boston 14 years ago with funding from a private equity firm, Cerberus Capital Management, Steward has grown to operate 31 hospitals in eight states, employing about 30,000 people and serving more than 2 million patients each year. Cerberus cashed in in 2020, with a profit of about $800 million.
Steward has even done business internationally, including with Malta, a small Mediterranean state. Steward said he found early success there after managing three hospitals for the Maltese government. But that deal ended last year, and Maltese authorities accused Steward of fraud and collusion. Steward said his operations in the archipelago were “conducted in a professional manner and in support of our service delivery to the people of Malta.”
Steward’s bankruptcy filing in Texas details how the company ended up with $9.2 billion in debt and liabilities. De la Torre has previously argued that his company bought many struggling hospitals that might not have survived otherwise.
But the staff doesn’t believe it.
“He gets away with it, he’s in France, he’s doing what he has to do, he’s got his yachts, his planes and he doesn’t have to answer?” wonders Michael Santos, who works security at Nashoba Valley Hospital. “What if it was me or you?”
Santos has had to rush his own daughter, who suffers from severe asthma, to hospital in the past and said it remains essential for the community.
“This closure will cause deaths,” Santos said.
About 50 miles southeast, in one of Boston’s most cosmopolitan neighborhoods, sit the imposing buildings of Carney Hospital. Emergency room nurse Mary Ann Rockett said she considers the staff and patients family.
“We have patients here who, when they walk in the door, know their allergies, their medications, their medical history,” she said. “And in some cases, I can tell you why they’re here before they even fill out that box on the questionnaire.”
Rockett said she also believes the shutdowns will lead to negative consequences, including deaths.
“It’s hard,” she said. “It’s heartbreaking.”
Neither Steward nor the patient care ombudsman appointed for the bankruptcy process responded to questions about whether deaths or other negative consequences were expected as a result of the two hospital closures.
This month, Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey agreements announced to sell four Steward hospitals to new owners and allow the state to seize a fifth using eminent domain before transferring ownership.
Healey said no buyers had submitted qualifying offers for the Carney or Nashoba Valley hospitals and the state couldn’t manage them, so they would have to close. She said the state contributed $30 million to keep them open through the end of August.
“I’m pleased to say that we are finally turning the page on Steward in Massachusetts,” Healey said at a news conference announcing the deals. “Good riddance and goodbye.”
A state Department of Health spokesperson said it is working with other hospitals and health centers in affected areas to maintain access to essential medical services, help patients transition their care and connect staff with new job opportunities. The department has also been in discussions with fire chiefs near Nashoba Valley Hospital to develop plans to maintain a robust emergency response system, the spokesperson said.
Steward’s bankruptcy is currently under investigation by the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, and de la Torre has been subpoenaed to testify on September 12.
Saturday will mark the second Steward hospital closure Rockett has endured. She worked at nearby Quincy Medical Center when Steward closed the 124-year-old hospital, citing operating losses. She said many of the neediest patients, the ones who fall through the cracks, have also moved from Quincy to Carney, and she doesn’t know where they will go next.
“Profit has no place in health care,” Rockett said. “We have to be there for patients.”
