Judge to decide if Westlake Hospital violated temporary restraining order

Efforts to keep Westlake Hospital open landed in a Daley Center courtroom Tuesday.

Melrose Park village officials accused owner Pipeline Health of violating a temporary restraining order to maintain services at the 225-bed hospital at 1225 W. Lake St.

Pipeline Health said staffing issues caused it to suspend services and any violation of the temporary restraining order happened because it was issued after it already began cutting services.

Cook County Circuit Judge Moshe Jacobius was expected to rule Tuesday on whether Pipeline was in contempt of court.

Outside the courtroom, elected officials and community organizers voiced their opposition of Pipeline.

“The closure of this hospital will harm people in my community that is currently being treated in that facility,” said U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, D-Ill. “Displaced patients, mostly people of color, don’t have other options for their healthcare. Westlake Hospital is a critical asset for Melrose Park and the surrounding community.”

Garcia said Pipeline Health manufactured a crisis at Westlake by “directing nurses and other staff to find new jobs.”

“Westlake Hospital must remain open until a state board reviews the owner’s application to close the facility,” Garcia said.

Garcia demanded Pipeline Health provide a plan for serving current patients and remaining open until the state Health Facilities and Services Review Board determines if the facility can shut down at the end of the month.

Garcia was joined by state Reps. Emanuel “Chris” Welch and Kathleen Willis, who both co-sponsored a bill that would give the governor the power to reverse any decision by the Health Facilities and Services Review Board on a hospital closing. It also would suspend any application to close a hospital until pending lawsuits over the closing are resolved. The bill passed in the Illinois House last week.

Welch said this pending lawsuit is critical for the state board.

“[The review board] will defer any action on a pending application for closure if there is a pending lawsuit, which we have, and if there is an injunction in place, which we have,” Welch said. “That’s why we filed a lawsuit.”

Lilian Jimenez, a Melrose Park community organizer, said, “They’re completely disregarding the will of the community here. … They are supposed to be waiting for this process and they are not waiting, they are unilaterally closing departments, firing people and moving people out.”

Manny Ramos is a corps member in Report for America, a not-for-profit journalism program that aims to bolster Sun-Times coverage of issues affecting Chicago’s South and West sides.