Private Equity's Latest Scheme: Closing Urban Hospitals and Selling Off the Real Estate

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

https://prospect.org/article/private-equitys-latest-scheme-closing-urban-hospitals-and-selling-real-estate

On Thursday, thousands of union workers and community members are expected to rally against the decision of private-equity tycoon Joel Freedman to close Philadelphia’s 171-year-old Hahnemann University Hospital. Workers and community members are accusing Freedman of closing a vital medical center for the poor in order to sell the prime real estate to build luxury condos and hotels.

The closure of the hospital means that more than 2,500 union workers will be thrown out of work and tens of thousands of mostly poor Philadelphians, who rely on the hospital for primary care, will see their lives upturned as they search for other options. Nearly half of the residents who use Hahnemann are on Medicaid and two-thirds are black and Latino, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.

The hospital is expected to close in August, but already the decision to close its emergency room has sent panic throughout Philadelphia.

“This is nothing short of a public-health emergency. People will get hurt, and they will die as a direct result of this one man’s action,” says Dylan Toolajian, an oncology nurse and a union member of thePennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals (PASNAP).

[Karadeniz]

1. Owners of a business that functions for general public welfare shouldn't be allowed to

Willy nilly deprive the public of that benefit.

[ck4829]

4. Bingo

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

3. It's sooo fucked up. nt

[ReformedGOPer]

5. My son is a student there. We are devastated; he's scrambling to find another placement.

[SoCalDem]

6. Only the wealthy deserve health care

-----> just in case some newbie gets scared and reports me