Shuttered safety-net hospitals' future unclear after judge rejects leadership change

OAK PARK, Ill. (WLS) -- The fate of two closed safety-net hospitals that served thousands of patients on Chicago's West Side remains up in the air after a Cook County Circuit Court judge declined to appoint new leadership because of two dueling lawsuits filed by the hospital's owners.

Both West Suburban Medical Center and Weiss Memorial Hospital will stay in the hands of its current operator and CEO Manoj Prasad after a judge ruled against having a third party take over reopening operations.

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The ABC7 I-Team has been covering the fallout of the hospitals' closures since West Suburban Medical Center abruptly closed its doors and furloughed hundreds of staff back in March.

After Monday's ruling, many community members told the I-Team it is back to square one with no change in leadership for the beleaguered safety net hospitals.

"There's still no care there, there's still no work that's done there. The HVAC is down, the elevators are down," said former West Suburban Medical Center Nursing Director Sylvia Williams.

Williams walking out of the courtroom in tears.

"It's just a loss for the community," Williams said.

Cook County Circuit Court Judge Patrick Stanton rejected on Monday a request by the hospital's landowner and part-operations owner Rathnaker Reddy Patlola to have a third party take over the hospitals' operations.

Stanton said the burden to show state funds were misused was not met.

Williams said the judge rejected what she saw as a glimmer of hope to reopen the hospital by ousting current CEO Prasad, under whom it closed.

"He [Prasad] has the burden of proof to prove that he really does care about the community and that he is going to use whatever funds he has to fix the things that hospital needs to function," Williams said. "That's on him, not on us."

Prasad is the CEO of Resilience Healthcare, the company in charge of operations for both now shuttered private safety net hospitals.

Prasad's business partner, Patlola, brought the lawsuit against Resilience Healthcare, accusing Prasad of misappropriating $35 million in state funds; An accusation the judge says was not proven in court with essentially all funds accounted for.

Prasad also sued Patlola after the hospital's leadership was served an eviction notice back in April.

Still, former West Suburban physicians have doubts about the hospitals' future given the current leadership.

"[Prasad's] already closed Weiss hospital. This hospital is closed. So, the west side of Chicago will pay the price," said Dr. Vishnu Chundi, a former West Suburban infectious disease physician and chair of the Chicago Medical Society's task force to restore care at West Suburban Medical Center.

In a letter sent to Judge Stanton voicing support of the appointment of a third party to oversee operations, Chundi, on behalf of the Chicago Medical Society wrote, "Many of the residents historically served by West Suburban Medical Center already face significant healthcare disparities."

"According to publicly reported Chicago Department of Public Health data, certain West Side communities experience life expectancies approximately twenty years shorter than those of residents living in downtown Chicago neighborhoods," the letter states.

After Monday's court hearing, Chundi called Stanton's ruling the "status quo" and questioned whether state officials should take more a proactive effort in the closed hospitals' operations.

"I have zero faith that Dr. Prasad is capable of opening a door and closing it without running into it," Chundi said. "The bigger issue is where are the governor and the health authorities to investigate where the money that they allocated to the hospitals really was spent?"

Before reading his ruling, Judge Stanton said that after speaking behind closed doors with attorneys on both sides, including late into Friday evening, "There's a framework in place that will lead to the reopening of the hospitals, but it is not final right now."

No further details were shared about those plans.

Both attorneys for Prasad and Patlola would not elaborate on those plans, or comment on Monday's ruling.

As the I-Team previously reported, state investigations are underway into how taxpayer dollars were spent at West Suburban and Weiss Memorial Hospital before the facilities shut down.

A state audit performed just a month before West Suburban closed, obtained by the I-Team through a Freedom of Information Act request, found that leadership was "unstable and overstretched," and that there was no "data driven strategy to stabilize operations."

"Actions are determined day to day," auditors told the state.

A federal license for West Suburban Medical Center to receive Medicare and Medicaid funding is set to expire Sept. 30, if no corrective actions take place, according to an Illinois Department of Public Health inspection report reviewed by the I-Team.

Bishop Dwight Gunn, a Senior Pastor for the Heritage International Christian Church, attended Monday's court hearing and said he fears for his community's future.

"They have not shown any framework of being able to really care for the neighbors and community members that need these services," Gunn said.