Last February, Signature Brockton Hospital saw a 10-alarm fire shut down most of the hospital's services. Almost a year later, the hospital still is not back up and running. With the owner of Brockton's other major hospital facing a much-publicized financial crisis, the city of Brockton's healthcare safety net is in limbo.
Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton is owned by for-profit hospital system Steward Health Care, which allegedly owes millions to debtors, including a reported $50 million to its landlord. And while Steward officials told the Business Journal last week that the system had secured the funding to keep its hospitals stable, Brockton public leaders and health care officials say the South Shore and surrounding region is severely short on hospital beds and simply can't afford to lose another hospital.
