Dear Editor:

The September 21, 2013 meeting of the Health & Wellness Foundation, “The Task Force,” included a presentation of the legal issues involved in the efforts to stop the closing of St. Andrews Hospital. In summary, options to stop the closing using lawsuits have been exhausted due to the statute of limitations and other nuances of the law which make further pursuits in this regard unadvised.

Nothing in this determination concludes that MaineHealth, Lincoln County Healthcare or the St. Andrews board acted ethically, morally, with any sense of rural versus urban medicine or in the highest interests of our community. They just acted legally.

“It ain't right” is the most frequent comment heard about this issue. If one can surmise that if 98 percent of voters expressed this opinion, as they did last May, then something is certainly not right. Shame on us for not seeing what was happening long ago. But how were we to know? The hospital entities in control meet in secrecy and do not release meeting minutes. Greater shame on them for not approaching the community years ago when closing St. Andrews was first considered. All the energy and resources put into the effort to stop the closing could have and would have been spent on maintaining the hospital ... and closure would have been prevented.

Last, no one should believe the malarkey that “St. Andrews Hospital is not closing.” St. Andrews Hospital is closing. If you don't think so, try getting an ambulance to take you there after October 1. It will no longer be a hospital. And watch for all the corporate name changes. With a legal sleight of hand, St. Andrews “Hospital” will be in two places at once, only the part we need will be 20 miles away.

In an action worthy of the carpetbaggers after the Civil War, on October 1, 2013, St. Andrews Hospital (and its Critical Access designation) will effectively be loaded on a scow and towed across the Damariscotta River, a feat worthy of such scallywags. Yes, we've been hornswoggled by carpetbaggers.

Michael Pander
Boothbay