Judge hears injunction case to delaying closure of Franciscan Health Hammond
Lake Superior Court Bruce Parent heard arguments Wednesday from both parties of Hammond v Franciscan Alliance Inc., an injunction by the city of Hammond to delay the closure of Franciscan Health Hammond’s emergency room which is slated to close at the end of the year.
Parent is expected to make a decision on Thursday, ahead of the Friday deadline for the end of ambulances dropping off patients at Franciscan Health Hammond.
The city of Hammond argued that promises were made by Franciscan to keep the city’s only major emergency room open following the May 2021 announcement that most of St. Margaret’s Hospital would be torn down.
The city was lied to for a year and a half and could have used that time to find a replacement for Franciscan, Hammond Mayor Thomas McDermott said.
“Every major city in Indiana has a hospital and ours is fleeing,” he said on the witness stand Wednesday.
Meanwhile lawyers for Franciscan argued that any agreements made in May and June of 2021 did not hold the hospital system at fault, and that no legal agreement was made with the city.
The case does not meet the requirements for promissory estoppel, a legal doctrine that stipulates a party can be found at fault for damages even if no legal agreement has been made, Robert Anderson, legal counsel for Franciscan Health, said during cross examination.
As evidence Franciscan showed a clip from the mayor’s “Left of Center” podcast appearance, following the announcement that most of St. Margaret would be closing, in which McDermott said he could “make the case this really does not affect Hammond too much.”
On the stand McDermott said the comment was meant to calm Hammond residents concerned over the hospital’s closure, and was made nearly 18 months prior to Franciscan’s announcement that the emergency department would be closed as well.
