Caritas seeks to take over troubled Landmark
12:51 PM Thu, Sep 24, 2009 | Permalink
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By Felice J. Freyer Superior Court Judge Michael A. Silverstein, who has been supervising the struggling hospital's management for more than a year, on Thursday approved Landmark's proposal to negotiate exclusively with Caritas Christi. It will take many months to bring the proposal to fruition. But Thursday's ruling marks a significant milestone in the effort to save the Woonsocket hospital, which asked for court supervision in 2008 because it was in danger of financial collapse. In asking Silverstein's approval of its Caritas talks, the court-appointed special master, lawyer Jonathan N. Savage, showed that he had enough confidence in the Caritas merger idea to go public with it and to forgo negotiations with any other entity. If the plan succeeds, Landmark will become a Catholic hospital and will have to conform to Church teachings forbidding abortions and sterilizations. Richard Charest, Landmark president, said that Landmark currently does not perform abortions and does less than 20 sterilizations each year. Landmark and Caritas have yet to sign any documents affirming the merger plans. Savage said they will now work toward a definitive agreement, a process likely to take months. Then, the hospitals must seek approval from state regulators, another lengthy process. Court supervision will end only after the Department of Health and the attorney general approve the merger.
The chain expects to record a $30 million profit in the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30, Guyon said. Guyon said that Caritas is committed to keeping Landmark as an acute-care hospital, with an emergency room and inpatient beds. But beyond that, he could make no predictions about whether any services would be eliminated or curtailed, nor whether there would be any job loss. The fate of the Rehabilitation Hospital of Rhode Island, which Landmark owns, remains in limbo. Savage said that Caritas is interested in acquiring the rehab hospital, in North Smithfield, but talks so far have focused on Landmark.
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Just what we need in Rhode Island, another Catholic Hospital.
Pretty soon a ban on surgery and just a lot of praying to get well..
Just plain dumb idea
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Careful Martin, your anti-Catholic bias is showing.
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Poor "Martin." He never learned the difference between Catholics and Christian Scientists. *tsk*
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Caritas can barely handle the six hospitals it already runs. Generating a $30 million between 6 facilities is really nothing much to brag about either. This system was on the brink of collapse just a little over a year ago, they laid a bunch of people off which explains their "profit" and now they go diving right back in taking over more debt....what a joke.
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You mean his intelligence?
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