The Adventures of the Purloined Bequest, the Resident Heiress, and the Hidden Hospital System

The game is afoot again.  A series of recent articles in the media described a series of cases whose mysterious interrelationships Sherlock Holmes might have appreciated.The Purloined BequestA singular article in the Wall Street Journal, entitled "Judge Rules in Case of Fortune Tied to Buffett," first made this case explicit, but some background is required to understand it.The story focused on Long Island College Hospital, in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, New York.  [Full disclosure: this story got my attention particularly because I grew up nearby in Brooklyn, and was born at that hospital, which was also the local hospital my parents often used.]   LICH has long been the major community hospital for downtown Brooklyn.The story appeared to begin in 2011, per the WSJ, In 2011, Judge [Carolyn] Demarest approved the merger of LICH and SUNY Downstate on the condition it would keep the charitable hospital going. As part of the deal, the hospital transferred properties to Downstate estimated to be worth as much as $1 billion collectively, according to a previous court order.The merger was supposed to keep LICH in operation as a community hospital and provider of acute care to the poor.  However, things did not work out. This year, however, Downstate announced plans to shut the hospital, leading to protests from Brooklyn residents and local politicians.'It is clear that the premise upon which this Court authorized the transfer of assets has been d...
Source: Health Care Renewal - Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Tags: accountability anechoic effect concentration of power Continuum Health Partners hospital systems mergers Mismanagement Source Type: blogs