Hospital Bankruptcies Leave Sick and Injured Nowhere to Go

A quiet crisis is unfolding for U.S. hospitals, with bankruptcies and closures threatening to leave some of the country’s most vulnerable citizens without care.

As a gauge of distress in the health-care sector has soared, at least 30 hospitals entered bankruptcy in 2019, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. They range from Hahnemann University Hospital in downtown Philadelphia to De Queen Medical Center in rural Sevier County, Arkansas and Americore Health LLC, a company built on preserving rural hospitals.

Demonstrators gathered in front of Hahnemann University Hospital to protest its closure and sale on July 11, 2019.

Photographer: Cory Clark/NurPhoto via Getty Images

There’s more distress to come. Already this week, the bankrupt owner of St. Vincent Medical Center in Los Angeles ...