Congressman Jesús “Chuy” García to Pipeline Health: “What’s your plan?”

Chicago, IL -Yesterday Cook County Court Judge Moshe Jacobius held Pipeline Health, owner of Westlake Hospital, in contempt of court. The judge ruled that Pipeline Health violated a temporary restraining order when it suspended services at Westlake Hospital on April 9th. Today, Pipeline Health continued to avoid their initial commitment to keep the hospital open by announcing in a press release that it wanted to transfer ownership of the hospital to the Village of Melrose Park.

Congressman Jesús "Chuy" García has sent a letter to the Illinois Health Facilities and Review Board and the Cook County Department of Public Health asking them to exercise full and thorough oversight of Pipeline Health's acquisition and proposed closure of the Westlake Hospital. The Illinois Health Facilities & Services Review Board is scheduled to rule on Pipeline's application to close the hospital at its April 30 meeting.

The letter is linked here.

"I am pleased to hear that Judge Moshe has ruled in favor of the people of the Village of Melrose Park and the surrounding communities. However, the company's proposal to transfer ownership of the hospital to Melrose Park is another example of their pattern of misleading the public.

"Pipeline created a staffing crisis in the hospital by encouraging its staff to leave. We demand they inform the public about their plan to restore patient services.