Can Muhlenberg Recover?

Plaintalker has left reporting on the Muhlenberg maelstrom to the dailies and the Needler in the Haystack. It remains to be seen whether the hospital is circling the drain or whether the roiling waters will be stilled somehow.

Solaris CEO John McGee will speak at the City Council meeting Monday and on May 6, the State Health Planning Board will hold a hearing in the Plainfield High School auditorium. Maybe some questions will get answered Monday. The May 6 session is for comments only.

I was in the hospital recently and overheard a staff member telling a patient that if the Department of Health and Senior Services decides not to close Muhlenberg, the hospital will declare bankruptcy and close anyway. It sort of confirmed my sense that rallies were not going to save the day. The health care system itself is the problem here, and until there is better policy at federal and state levels, investors will continue to make money off a skewed approach to patient care.

Politicians have used the Muhlenberg issue to cast blame, and in the weeks before the June primary, there will undoubtedly be more of the same. Hospital officials have also set a date in June to begin downsizing. The shouting may well be over by the end of June. Meanwhile, it might be prudent to know where all the local docs-in-a-box are, and maybe even a few curanderos.

--Bernice Paglia