Massachusetts governor formally seizes St. Elizabeth's hospital

BOSTON - Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey said Friday that she has formally seized St. Elizabeth's Medical Center through eminent domain. The Brighton hospital is run by the bankrupt Steward Health Care company.

Healey said her action will keep the hospital open while the state transfers operations to a new owner, Boston Medical Center.

St. Elizabeth's seized by eminent domain

"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," Healey said in a statement. "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 landlord, Apollo Global Management, had said the state's $4.5 million eminent domain offer significantly undervalued the property and pledged to fight the move in court.

"Despite our repeated attempts to engage in reasonable negotiations, the Governor has initiated an unconstitutional use of eminent domain at the expense of Apollo's third-party investors. Taking the property for a fraction of the assessed value is theft and everyone in Massachusetts--every business owner and homeowner--should be concerned about this threat," Bill Reid, a lawyer representing Apollo, said in a statement. "As a fiduciary, Apollo is left with no choice but to continue pursuing litigation aimed at challenging the Governor's unconstitutional use of eminent domain."

Steward declared bankruptcy in May and put its U.S. hospitals up for sale. The story of a new mom dying after giving birth at St. Elizabeth's last October made national headlines, as medical staff at the hospital said a device that could have saved her life was repossessed by the manufacturer weeks earlier because of unpaid bills.

Steward CEO held in contempt

The U.S. Senate voted this week to hold Steward Health Care CEO Ralph de la Torre in contempt of Congress. He was subpoenaed to testify about allegations of corporate greed at the Steward, but refused to do so until the company's bankruptcy process was complete.

Steward has already sold or agreed to sell Good Samaritan Hospital in Brockton, Saint Anne's Hospital In Fall River, Morton Hospital in Taunton and Holy Family hospitals in Methuen and Haverhill. The company closed Carney Hospital in Dorchester and Nashoba Valley Medical Center in Ayer after no qualified offers were received.