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State seizes St. Elizabeth's in Brighton to keep it open
By adamg on Fri, 09/27/2024 - 11:50am
Gov. Healey today announced the state has taken control of St. Elizabeth's Medical in Brighton by eminent domain from its current private-equity owner to keep it open, rather than letting it simply fade away like Carney Hospital in Dorchester.
The move means the state can now get the hospital ready for transfer to its ultimate new owner, Boston Medical Center. In a statement, Healey said:
While Apollo continues to put its greed ahead of the health and wellbeing of the people of Massachusetts, we are taking action to make sure St. Elizabeth’s remains open. By transferring operations to Boston Medical Center, we will protect access to care for tens of thousands of patients and save thousands of jobs.
The formal taking from Apollo Global Management came in the form of a filing with the Suffolk County Registry of Deeds, which explains the reason for the eminent-domain taking:
The supposed owner of the property is Saint Elizabeth LLC, a Delaware limited liability company. SE LLC's failure to enter an agreement to transfer the Property in connection with the bankruptcy of Steward Health Care System LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, and its affiliated debtors .. so that it is controlled by an experienced, suitable operator has created a public health emergency that is detrimental to the citizens of the Commonwealth, as the closure of the hospital and health care facilities on the property would endanger the lives and health of patients.
The filing states "an award has been made" as compensation, but does not state an amount.
Registry records also show that Steward officially sold the hospital to Apollo for $230 million on Sept. 4 - the same date Apollo, through its Saint Elizabeth subsidiary, sued the state in Land Court over the proposed taking, saying the state had some nerve unconstitutionally using eminent domain to seize a property assessed at some $200 million to "gift it" to a private non-profit and only pay $4.5 million in exchange.
A Land Court judge is still considering the case in general and a specific request from Apollo to block the state from taking over the hospital.
Neighborhoods:
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| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
 Complete taking filing | 370.22 KB |
| Apollo's complete complaint in its lawsuit | 405.39 KB |
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Comments
What's the over/under at $250,000,000?
I would very much take the over. Plus interest.
Our point guard will take credit for fixing(?) this but will be holding sway at Kamala's DoJ when the bill comes due.
Kamala's DoJ?
Really bruh/bruhette?
There will be plenty of opportunities
for a former AG with government administrative experience and a track record of being a prodigious fund raiser.
Cool
Now do housing units and end homelessness.
If you can win an eminent domain suit over a giant PE firm, surely, you can win one over Johnny House Flipper.
You already got your wish
Except it's not "Johnny House Flipper" that the state is fighting in court, but NIMBYs and their exclusionary zoning. The MBTA Communities Act is a first, small step to get more housing built and NIMBYs in places like Milton are dragging the state through a court battle over it.
What if...
So if the hospital remaining open is so essential for the common good that the state is willing to use its power to outright take it, why doesn't the state just keep it instead of handing it off to the next chain?
Oh, right, the state exists to occasionally put its thumb on the scale to keep the almighty Market from ruining everything, not to provide services. And before anyone brings up LSH, the problems with state hospitals are in no small part a consequence of the fact that the state doesn't want to provide services.
No
The state wants services, they just don't want to fund them properly. Then when we get a republican governor, its cuts cuts cuts.. leaving these places underfunded and understaffed.
Because the state is not a health care provider?
You may want it to be one, you may have good data to demonstrate that it should be one, but at the moment, the state really has no expertise in running hospitals, whereas BMC does. And unlike Steward Heatlhcare, BMC is a local institution with a long standing commitment to providing quality health care to all who come through the door.