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The Massachusetts attorney general’s office defended Gov. Maura Healey’s decision to seize St. Elizabeth Medical Center through eminent domain during the Steward Health Care bankruptcy.
The seizure of the Brighton hospital is unconstitutional because it violates a 1917 Massachusetts law prohibiting public aid for private hospitals, attorneys for a private equity firm argued in a lawsuit filed in state Land Court.
In August, Healey declared a public health emergency and announced an agreement to hand over operations of the Brighton hospital and Brockton’s Good Samaritan to Boston Medical Center.
The St. Elizabeth’s property occupies 14 acres of “prime real estate” on Cambridge Street in Brighton, according to the complaint filed in Massachusetts Land Court by Apollo Global Management.
“BMC’s lowball, $4.5 million bid to take over St. Elizabeth’s appears to have been predicted on promises of substantial governmental assistance,” attorneys for Apollo Global Management wrote in the complaint.
In a motion to dismiss filed this week, state attorneys defended the taking as a legitimate public purpose: closure of the hospital would endanger the lives of patients and severely disrupt critical care services.
“It cannot be seriously disputed that such closure would result in a public health crisis and cripple the public health system’s ability to provide medical services,” the attorney general’s office wrote.
Land Court Associate Justice Kevin Smith issued a protective order today, enabling the two sides to exchange confidential financial information as part of the discovery.
The lawsuit argues the fair market value of the property is closer to $200 million, noting its current $191 million assessment. The property is suitable for other uses, citing recent residential developments such as the Overlook at St. Gabriel’s, a former church and monastery which was redeveloped as 655 apartments and condominiums.
State officials, including Gov. Maura Healey and Secretary of Health and Human Services Kate Walsh, negotiated a “sweetheart deal” with Boston Medical Center on the purchase of the Brighton property during Steward’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy case, the lawsuit states.
A spokesperson for the state Department of Health and Human Services declined to comment on pending litigation.
Apollo Global Management issued a mortgage on the Brighton property in March 2022 to Medical Properties Trust and Macquarie Asset Management, which previously had acquired Steward Health Care’s real estate.
The lawsuit seeks an injunction preventing the condemnation of the property, a step in the eminent domain process. It describes the taking as unconstitutional because Article 18 of the Massachusetts Constitution, also known as the “Anti-Aid Amendment,” prohibits the use of public funding for private purposes including private hospitals, and said Healey needs Legislative approval for the taking.
