As city leaders across the country scramble to find space for the expected surge of COVID-19 patients, some are looking at a seemingly obvious choice: former hospital buildings, sitting empty, right downtown.
The hospital’s owner had previously claimed it was not responsible for those costs, but when U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Gross threatened to change the hospital’s bankruptcy case from a Chapter 11 reorganization to a Chapter 7 liquidation, the effort to find a solution was taken more seriously.
Bankruptcy judge Kevin Gross issued an order requiring PAHS to file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy instead of Chapter 11, unless its lawyers can give him a good reason why it shouldn’t.
“This was something that was promised in our employment contracts, and this was not something any of us thought we’d have to go out on our own and find,” said Sukhdeep Singh.
Pennsylvania Health Secretary Rachel Levine said, because the building doesn’t meet the definition of a hospital, her department has no choice but to revoke the license, rendering Hahnemann essentially unsupervised and unregulated while it still contains dangerous and confidential materials.
The decision puts into limbo the hospital owners’ hopes for an infusion of funds to satisfy creditors and maintain minimal operations as the institution winds down.
