This is part four of a five part series. View the full series.
FORT OGLETHORPE – In November 2014, Hutcheson Medical Center’s leaders admitted their community could no longer support a public hospital.
Or they simply hit the the pause button, in one last effort to survive.
It depends on who you ask.
The hospital filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Nov. 20, 2014. This was not necessarily a death sentence. Though they held about $80 million in liabilities at the time, Hutcheson would not have to make debt payments so long as the hospital was protected by bankruptcy court.