FORT OGLETHORPE, Ga. - A bankruptcy judge has ordered Hutcheson Medical Center in northwest Georgia to close within the next month if no buyer is found.
The Chattanooga Times Free Press reports (http://bit.ly/1isgQVc ) U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Paul Bonapfel ordered the hospital's main campus, outpatient services and cancer center to close during a hearing Friday. The hospital has said it does not have enough cash flow to support itself.
The patient count has dwindled in recent months. The hospital's emergency room had been 40 and 50 patients, while the main hospital saw about five people in beds. The hospital laid off 58 employees in September and about 70 more this month.
Erlanger Health System, which loaned Hutcheson about $20 million in 2011, has pushed for more than a year to foreclose on the property.
