The pained expressions on the faces of the individuals in the pictures in The Natchez Democrat told the story without reading the headline. The accompanying story reported the withdrawal of Essent Healthcare from negotiations to purchase Natchez Regional Medical Center earlier this past week. The story confirmed a rumor that had been circulating among the hospital staff for several days.

Apparently, the wild card in the negotiations had become Essent’s desire to purchase Natchez Community Hospital as well, from its owner, HMA Corp. If that was a part of Essent’s bid from the start of the negotiations, it seems to me that should have been a red flag to everyone involved, but I suppose now that point is moot.

All we are left with are questions, so I’ll go ahead and ask a few that have come to mind. We have been told NRMC would continue to operate if the sale fell through, but we have been told so much that has turned out wrong, that has to be the first question for the Supervisors. Will NRMC continue to operate? If so, will NRMC operate for the foreseeable future under county ownership, or will the county proceed with trying to find another purchaser?

What will this mean for the hospital staff? They all have already endured a full year of anxiety about the future of their livelihood. Most have endured pay cuts, and many have seen their work loads increased significantly, due to staff cut-backs. The handful of people that I have spoken to are somewhat disgruntled, to say the least.

How long will the boards — supervisors and hospital trustees — continue the current arrangement with Scott Phillips, or his company, or whoever receives that $100,000 per month for their professional services?

One thing about a nice round figure like $100,000 a month is that it is so easy to figure what that comes to for the last year, without even need of a calculator. That would be $1.2 million. Given where we are now, it begs the question of did we get our money’s worth on that one? I would guess we could find a CEO, interim or otherwise, for a little less than that for the next year.

Since NRMC is now in Chapter 9 Bankruptcy, even though we were told that the hospital was not bankrupt, what will be the effect on numerous unsecured creditors? These creditors were told that they would be paid in full, and that the bankruptcy filing was only a technicality.

Will that bankruptcy filing have any effect on current or former employees’ pension benefits that they have paid into the retirement system? Since they are part of the PERS (Public Employee Retirement System) I would hope not, but I would certainly ask the question if I were them.

My final question for now would be for Natchez resident Dorothy L. “Dotty” Stubbs, who attacked me personally for speaking out on this subject, in her letter in the Jan. 13, issue of The Natchez Democrat.

Do you still think that the “Public must trust in hospital deal”? How did things turn out just turning a blind eye and leaving it to the boards and the hired experts Ms. Stubbs? But then I can probably guess her response in advance. She will probably blame me for the sale falling through. The sale fell through because I had the audacity to question the veil of secrecy surrounding the process. The nerve of me indeed!

Chuck Fields

Natchez resident