Letter Included With Massachusetts Nurses Association Pleading Before The Bankruptcy Court

This Week, Pressley Rallied With Colleagues, Patients and Workers to Speak Out Against Carney Hospital Closure

Text of Letter (PDF)

WASHINGTON – Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07) joined Senator Edward J. Markey (MA-07), along with Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Representatives Stephen Lynch (MA-08), Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), and Lori Trahan (MA-03), in sending a letter to Steward Health Care, Medical Properties Trust, Inc. (MPT), and Macquarie Investment Partners (MIP), regarding Steward Health Care’s announced closure of Carney Hospital and Nashoba Valley Medical Center and the ongoing bankruptcy proceedings.

The letter was included with Massachusetts Nurses Association’s pleading before the Texas Southern District Bankruptcy Court objecting to Steward’s emergency motion to close Carney Hospital and Nashoba Valley Medical Center.

In the letter, Senator Markey and his colleagues outline steps that Steward, MPT, and MIP should take to protect workers and guarantee continuity of care for people in Massachusetts. The lawmakers urge: 

1. Steward to follow directives from state officials regarding the state’s hospital closure process in order to ensure adequate notice and community participation;
2. MPT and MIP to provide relief to the hospitals from the current, onerous lease obligations that are interfering with the sale of Steward-owned hospitals; and
3. Steward, MPT, MIP, and all private equity firms that played a role in Steward’s financial downfall – and may also be first in line to be repaid as part of the bankruptcy process – to direct money extracted from the sale of Steward-owned hospitals towards supporting workers and protecting community access to care.

The lawmakers wrote: “It was Cerberus Capital Management, MPT, MIP, and Steward that engaged in deal-making that drove these hospitals into financial disaster, not the Commonwealth, communities that Carney Hospital or Nashoba Valley serve, or the workers they employ. And while workers and communities will have to grapple with the impact of hospital closures, the companies that helped facilitate this crisis also have the power and responsibility to help them.”

The lawmakers continued: “Steward’s financial crisis does not exempt the company from following the law, nor does it relieve Steward and its corporate enablers from their moral obligation to the public.”

This week, Rep. Pressley rallied with colleagues, patients, and providers to speak out against Steward’s abrupt closure of Carney Hospital in Dorchester.

In May 2024, Rep. Pressley issued a statement condemning Steward’s filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and failure to protect patients and workers.

In February 2024, Rep. Pressley joined members of the Massachusetts congressional delegation in seeking answers from Cerebrus on the private equity firm’s role in creating the current financial challenges at Steward hospitals, which threaten access to medical care for thousands of people in eastern Massachusetts.

In January 2024, following a Boston Globe report indicating that Steward Health Care System is in dire financial condition, Rep. Pressley, Sen. Warren, and the Massachusetts congressional delegation pressed Steward to brief them on Steward’s financial position, the status of their Massachusetts facilities, and their plans to ensure the communities they serve are not abandoned. 

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