Waterbury's mayor said a proposal to merge two local hospitals may fall apart.
Mayor Neil M. O'Leary told the The Republican-American that he was notified on Tuesday that LHP Hospital Group of Plano, Texas, has withdrawn from an initial agreement with Saint Mary's and Waterbury" hospitals.
O'Leary said Waterbury Hospital also has threatened to pull out of the venture if the three sides did not reach an agreement by Aug. 31.
“Unfortunately, there were a couple of hurdles that we couldn't seem to overcome to LHP's satisfaction and the two partners as well,” O'Leary told NBC Connecticut on Wednesday.
The plan was for LHP to own an 80 percent interest in the combined joint venture, with GWHN and Saint Mary’s each owning a 10 percent interest. All three would share governance.
State Rep. Sean Williams (R-68th District) said the two local hospitals are in a bad financial condition.
"And losing the possibility of having someone come in and rescue them with private equity is a real blow to the region and the state,” Williams said.
The end of the merger means a loss of construction jobs that would have come from building the new hospital as well as tax revenue from the would-be private facility.
“The best thing that we could see on the horizon for Waterbury was the merger of the hospital and to locate it in downtown Waterbury from an economic development point of view,” O’Leary said.
At issue are procedures that include tubal ligations, vasectomies and other reproductive services, which are done at Waterbury Hospital, but not at St Mary's because they violate the rules of the Catholic Church.
The original merger plan called for limited reproductive services at the new $400 million, 800,000 square-foot, state-of-the-art hospital, with either a separate building or separate organization providing those services independent of St Mary's.
However, because the new hospital would get state economic development money, Gov. Dannel Malloy said it had to offer more reproductive services or face losing those dollars.
“Unfortunately, from the city's perspective, and the state's perspective, it's really something out of our control. It's something that's going on between the two partners,” O’Leary said.
Williams said, “It's very possible it will happen eventually, but this is a significant bump in the road. There's no doubt about it.”
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The Permanent Commission on the Status of Women also released a statement:
"We believe that any state-of-the-art facility being built – especially with partial support from taxpayers’ dollars – should represent the needs of all the residents of the area, should treat all citizens equitably, regardless of gender, religion or socio-economic standing, and should have a far more definitive plan for future financial sustainability. It is unfortunate, therefore, that the dictates of the Ethical and Religious Directives (ERDs) of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops will derail a much-needed facility."
St Mary's Hospital told us they could not comment at this time.
