By James El-Mallakh–
The controversial hospital merger between University Hospital and St. Mary’s Healthcare will not happen.
On Jan. 9, Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear, along with Attorney General Jack Conway, examined the details of the proposed hospital merger and found the details to be inadequate, and rejected it. Without the Governor’s approval of the merger on behalf of University of Louisville Hospital, a public institution, the merger cannot materialize.
Beshear said in a press release, “Attorney General Conway and I have carefully evaluated those ideas, but found that they will not satisfy our concerns about the merger proposal.”
The main concern for Conway was the loss of public assets. U of L, a publicly-funded institution being under the control of a private company, St. Mary’s Healthcare, risks losing control over certain aspects of a public institution to a private company.
Andrew Schachtner, an accounting major in his fourth year, thinks the merger was a bad idea.
“I think that it’s really for the best, I’m not a supporter of Beshear but I don’t like public-private partnerships,” Schachtner said. “I think that they’re an infringement on the free market, and anytime the government gets involved in the free market things go wrong. So I’m glad that didn’t happen.”
Conway and Beshear also cited concerns over the availability of certain services that would be compromised if the merger were to happen. If University Hospital were to come under the ownership of St. Mary’s Healthcare, tubal ligations would be forbidden at the hospital.
Sidnie Smith, senior English major, weighed in on the controversy surrounding women’s reproductive rights, saying “being a woman, it is my choice whether or not I choose to be on birth control or have a tubal ligation or have an abortion, if that so be my choice. And I shouldn’t be turned away or denied things just because ‘Oh, that not what we believe’.”
How this decision will affect students was explained by Gary Mans, the Health Sciences Center Communications and Marketing Director, who said in a statement that “immediately, the impact on students will be minimal.”
“However, if productive solutions to the financial issues University Hospital faces are not found, there will be a decline in the educational support for the School of Medicine, which impacts the educational experience of our students,” Mans added. “Eventual impacts could mean fewer clerkships and other opportunities for students to gain valuable experience.”
This is the second time that the Governor has rejected the merger, after his decision to oppose the merger on December 30th, 2011. The joining of St. Mary’s Healthcare and Jewish hospital will still continue without U of L. The two hospitals will merge under the title of KentuckyOne Health.
Due to the university’s loss of money, many university officials agree that a partnership with another hospital is required.
David McArthur, Community and Media Relations Director, explained the future of University Hospital if it does not merge, “in the near future you are not going to see anything appreciably different. But over the next few years it is inevitable the hospital will have to begin limiting access, in a way that preserves the financial resources we have to treat those most in need.”
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Photo: Nathan Gardner/The Louisville Cardinal
