THE DEATH AND LIFE OF A SAFETY-NET HOSPITAL

Mercy Hospital, a 168-year-old anchor on Chicago’s South Side, was about to succumb to the brutal economics of health care for America's poor and uninsured. Then an unlikely savior appeared

- MONTE REEL

WORD OF MERCY HOSPITAL’S DEMISE BEGAN TO circulate just after 9 a.m. on July 29, 2020. The hospital’s chief executive officer summoned the medical executive committee to an unscheduled conference call. She told them she’d be sending a staff-wide memo shortly and felt a heads-up was in order.

“The decision to discontinue services at Mercy Hospital was not an easy one,” the memo read. More words followed— something about decreasing hospital reimbursements and ballooning capital expenses. Dr. Adele Joy Cobbs, an emergency physician on the committee, felt blindsided. She listened to the reactions of the other committee members on the call. The seconds ticked by.

“There was absolute silence,” Cobbs recalled afterward. “Not a word from anyone. It just reflected the disbelief.”