Pa. attorney general wants Prospect Medical held in contempt for Delco hospital closure

The Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General on Tuesday asked a county judge to hold Prospect Medical Holdings Inc. in contempt in connection with the closure of Delaware County Memorial Hospital on Nov. 7.

The attorney general’s filing in Delaware County Court also asked Judge Robert J. Shenkin to fine Prospect $100,000 a day for violating his orders prohibiting the California company — which owns Delaware County Memorial’s parent, Crozer Health — from altering services at the Upper Darby hospital or taking any steps to close it.

As of Tuesday, the requested fine totals $800,000.

» READ MORE: DCMH emergency department closure forces patients to other local hospitals.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health on Nov. 4 suspended emergency room activities and hospital admissions at Delaware County Memorial after regulators found the facility was unable to provide X-rays and other diagnostic imaging services because it didn’t have the staff.

The health department’s order said Prospect, which acquired Crozer-Keystone Health System in 2016 in a deal valued at $300 million, could not reopen the hospital until it had adequate staff to safely operate.

“We are in constant communication with the Department of Health on our recruitment efforts. We are interviewing candidates from a staffing agency as well,” Crozer’s chief executive, Tony Esposito, said in an email Friday.

Crozer could also hire a separate company to provide those services.

Experts, however, say it is exceedingly rare for a hospital to reopen once it has been closed.

Prospect did not respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

The litigation over the future of Delaware County Memorial started after Los Angeles-based Prospect announced in September that it wanted to turn the Drexel Hill facility into an inpatient psychiatric and addiction treatment facility.

The Foundation for Delaware County, the successor organization to Crozer-Keystone, sued Prospect on Sept. 28, seeking a preliminary injunction blocking Prospect from making changes to the services at Delaware County Memorial. The original sale agreement said the hospital had to remain open until at least 2026.

Shenkin twice ordered Prospect to maintain services at Delaware County Memorial.

“The action of Prospect Crozer to seek to circumvent this order, by failing to properly staff the hospital is shameful, and consistent with its recent actions, which put private profit as the singular focus of its operations, without regard to contractual commitments, or considerations of the health and safety of residents of Delaware County,” the foundation and Delaware County Council said in a statement Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Prospect has appealed Shenkin’s orders to Commonwealth Court.