The next phase in Natchez Regional Medical Center’s bankruptcy process moved forward this week.

Local legislators filed a bill that, if passed and signed by the governor, would allow the bankruptcy filing to proceed into federal bankruptcy court.

At this point, perhaps, having the bankruptcy go through may be the best thing for the owners of the hospital — Adams County residents.

The hospital’s owners have been in the dark for months and months with only bits of financial information doled out.

Until the hospital board announced it planned to file bankruptcy approximately 10 days ago, most residents had no idea the hospital was in such difficult financial shape.

While it’s sad to think the best way for residents to see a snapshot of the hospital’s finances is through a bankruptcy filing, unfortunately it may be residents’ only hope.

Hopefully, the bankruptcy court will require complete transparency of financial records.

We fear the bankruptcy may wipe out debt owed to innocent creditors, many of who lent cash or provided goods and services to the hospital in good faith.

If a single creditor is shorted in the bankruptcy process, the hospital’s board of trustees and administrators should be ashamed of themselves.

Only time will tell, however, if the bankruptcy continues and what, if any information, the public will learn about their own hospital in the process.