Norwood Hospital remains shut 18 months after damaging rain burst; owner sues insurers for not paying enough to replace it

Steward Health Care System yesterday sued its security companies for allegedly dragging their feet and trying to inexpensive retired connected payments to physique a marque caller Norwood Hospital to regenerate the 1 the infirmary web says was fundamentally destroyed by an aggravated magnitude of rainfall 1 time successful June, 2020.

In its lawsuit, filed successful US District Court successful Boston, Steward alleges that its insurers assertion astir of the harm was done by a "flood" - fundamentally from a h2o assemblage overflowing its banks oregon bursting retired of a main - alternatively than from the effects of 5.75 inches of rainfall successful conscionable 90 minutes connected June 28 of that year. The quality is that the security policies issued to Steward and to Medical Properties Trust, Inc., the institution that owns the infirmary buildings and leases them to Steward, person a bounds connected however overmuch the insurers volition wage retired for flooding harm portion the policies person nary acceptable bounds for rainfall damage.

Steward says rainfall from the tempest damaged each level connected each six buildings connected its 10.6-acre campus, truthful overmuch truthful that the 215-bed infirmary has been incapable to re-open and volition person to regenerate each the buildings, alternatively than effort to rehab them. "Approximately 369,341 of the 399,833 full quadrate feet of abstraction was damaged," the strategy alleges.

On June 28, 2020, a upwind lawsuit produced astir 5.75 inches of rainfall successful 90 minutes, causing catastrophic flood h2o to penetrate the basement and crushed levels of the Hospital. ...Water besides instantly impacted the extortion systems and envelope of astatine slightest 2 buildings successful the complex, catastrophically crippled captious mechanical and electrical systems, and destroyed floors, walls, ceilings, fixtures and finishes passim the Hospital. Essential diligent attraction systems including the nurse-call connection strategy and aesculapian state and vacuum systems were critically damaged, arsenic was diagnostic imaging instrumentality and different large diligent diagnostic and attraction instrumentality which cannot beryllium placed backmost into harmless and consistently reliable service. In short, each azygous level of the Hospital was damaged successful immoderate way. As a effect of the devastating damage, the Town of Norwood issued a Cease-and-Desist Order restricting each operations connected the Hospital campus, which is inactive successful effect.

The infirmary and section ambulance services managed to get astir 160 patients to different facilities.

But from the beginning, Steward charges, American Guarantee and Liability Insurance Co. and Zurich American Insurance Co. tried to evade helping wage the respective 100 cardinal dollars reconstruction of the infirmary volition take.

During an archetypal sojourn to the Hospital aft the Rain Event, for example, 1 of Zurich’s representatives commented that "it looks similar a adust retired and overgarment job."

Steward says its losses to day from the tempest - some to regenerate damaged instrumentality and nonaccomplishment of gross - full $220 cardinal but that the insurers person remitted lone $57.5 million. It says that the insurers person paid Medical Properties Trust $27.6 cardinal adjacent though the outgo of rebuilding the infirmary buildings volition full immoderate $180 million.
Medical Properties Trust is not portion of the Steward suit, but Steward says the 2 are inextricably linked - Norwood Hospital cannot resume treating patients without buildings to enactment them in.

Steward adds the losses spell beyond its ain - it had to furlough much than fractional its employees and already stretched Massachusetts hospitals present person to accommodate patients who erstwhile would person gone to Norwood:

The Defendants' refusal to effectuate a punctual and tenable solution of the claims has needlessly protracted the closure of the Hospital, which has had unquantifiable effects connected the Norwood assemblage and surrounding areas resulting in, without limitation: overmuch longer trips for section residents to person aesculapian services; Emergency Medical Services needing to present bypass the Hospital and transport patients overmuch longer distances; a severely disrupted doc web that volition proceed to deteriorate implicit clip arsenic physicians and different unit depart for employment opportunities elsewhere; furloughed and relocated employees (of which determination are astir 1,000) nary longer buying goods and services successful the section communities; the Hospital nary longer purchasing supplies oregon different materials locally; the Hospital not consuming h2o and sewer work from the municipal utility, nor energy and state from the section backstage utilities; and the continued suspension of the Hospital's assemblage benefits program. In addition, the drastic simplification successful spending attendant to the Hospital's continued closure has had a multiplier effect connected the section economy.

Prior to the Rain Event, and adjacent the pandemic, the Hospital was a captious and indispensable constituent of the wide wellness attraction infrastructure successful Norfolk County. Steward and MPT person done everything successful their powerfulness to expedite the accommodation process and reconstruct the Hospital to its erstwhile stature, but they cannot bash truthful alone, particularly not erstwhile being stonewalled by the Defendants successful nonstop usurpation of [state consumer-protection and fair-business laws].