Fallbook Hospital spanked by court

On May 8, Fallbrook Hospital (which closed in December) got a spanking from the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. In April of last year, the National Labor Relations Board had ruled that the hospital violated sections of the National Labor Relations Act by refusing to bargain in good faith with the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee of the AFL-CIO.

In April, the board had ruled that Fallbrook "operated with a closed mind and put up a series of roadblocks designed to thwart and delay bargaining...there was no intent to bargain." The following month, the hospital appealed the part of the decision requiring it to pay negotiation expenses of the union. Thus, said the appellate court, the hospital didn't challenge the board's finding that Fallbrook "deliberately acted to prevent any meaningful progress during bargaining."

In May of last year, the hospital told the union that it intended to close the acute-care unit in which the members of the bargaining unit worked. The hospital argued to the appellate court that "changed factual circumstances" — the effective termination of the bargaining unit by closing the acute-care facility — justified reconsideration of the decision that the hospital must pay the union's negotiating expenses.

Writing for the court, judge Harry Edwards said, "This argument is not only meritless, it reflects real chutzpah. (It reminds us of the legal definition of chutzpah: chutzpah is a young man, convicted of murdering his parents, who argued for money on the ground that he is an orphan.") The appellate court upheld the National Labor Relations Board decision.

Fallbrook Hospital effectively closed in December, according to Vi Dupre, administrator of the Fallbrook Healthcare District. The hospital did not have the patient load to continue operating.

"You can't operate when you are losing money," Dupre says. A skilled nursing facility, which was once part of Fallbrook Hospital, is open, she says. Last year, the district looked for an operator to take over Fallbrook Hospital but couldn't find one. The hospital is "technically closed, but the matter has to go through the state healthcare officials, and we are waiting for a sign off."

The City of Fallbrook has opened an urgent-care center. People needing to be hospitalized, depending on their physician or insurance, can go to other nearby facilities.

Fallbrook Hospital has been managed by the publicly held Tennessee-based Community Health Systems. Its divorce from Fallbrook Hospital has not been finalized, says Dupre. There are questions remaining, such as who will pay the union's negotiating expenses, as the appellate court decreed.

Karen Higgins, co-president of National Nurses United, told a publication this month that Community Health Systems "is probably the most arrogant and lawless employer in the healthcare industry."

I have sent questions to the company and will post its responses as soon as I get them.