Memorial Hosp. to Halt Most Procedures

State health authorities ordered Memorial Hospital of Salem County to stop accepting patients and close its surgical operations after problems with nursing practices and patient care were found during inspections.

The 140-bed hospital can keep its emergency room open, but patients will be sent elsewhere for care, state officials said Wednesday.

Annual inspections found significant violations in several areas of hospital operations, according to a statement from the Health Department.

Some medical procedures may still be performed, but those are limited, Health Department spokesman Dennis McGowan said. "If you need surgery that's not an emergency procedure, you will be shipped to another hospital," McGowan said. "If it's any other procedure you'd have to go elsewhere." Patients admitted to the hospital before the state ban may still receive care and access to limited medical procedures, but only emergency surgeries will be permitted, McGowan said. The state did not immediately know how many patients were still being treated.

The hospital has begun fixing the deficiencies and will ask the state to inspect the hospital again within a few days, Denise R. Williams, president and CEO of the hospital, said in a written statement.

"At that point in time, we expect that the curtailment will be removed," Glenn Krasker, vice president of operations, told Today's Sunbeam of Salem.

The state's action took hospital officials by surprise, Krasker said.

State authorities notified hospitals in southern New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware to prepare to handle patients that might normally go to Salem County.

The ban on surgeries and new patients will be lifted once the hospital has shown improvements, health authorities said.

The state detailed the hospital's faults in a two-page letter sent to Williams. "There appears to be inadequate quality assurance across hospital departments," wrote Marilyn Dahl, a senior assistant commissioner.

The state charged the hospital with inadequate infection control, as well as failing to sterilize supplies and operating room equipment.

State inspections also found a lack of nursing care for a substantial number of patients, according to the letter. Other violations included irregularities in patient records. Drug prescriptions were also incomplete and illegible and that created more errors for patient records, the state said.

The hospital has asked the state to allow it to operate as a for-profit entity by Community Health Systems, Inc., of Brentwood, Tenn.

CHS agreed last November to buy the hospital for $35 million. The deal hinges on state approvals in processes that could take months and would make Memorial the state's only for-profit acute-care hospital.

Williams has said her hospital has been losing about $1.5 million per year, largely because patients have been seeking treatment at hospitals in nearby Wilmington, Del., and Philadelphia.

The county government and several municipalities have supported the sale as a way to keep the hospital viable. Several watchdog groups have urged state regulators to consider the sale carefully and have questioned CHS' record on charity care.

The hospital opened in 1919 and employs about 680 people.

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Author: 6 ABC-AP