Westerly receivership paperwork

You know the basics-Westerly appeared in Washington County Superior Court today to file for receivership.  Judge Brian Stern accepted the filing and gave himself until Friday to pick a temporary Special Master. The court appointed overseer will be in charge of managing the hospital’s finances.

But if you want to know more, here’s a link to the actual court filing. Titled “Petition for the Appointment of a Special Master, ” it offers details on the medical center’s financial woes- 20 years without a surplus and a fiscal year 2011 operating loss of 5.7 million dollars (the PR folks told me 5.2 million dollars yesterday, so it’s unclear which number is correct.)

Also, a technicality- the stamp on the petition shows that the document was filed on December 6th, 2011. So Westerly didn’t *actually* file for receivership today. The hospital appeared in court today.

More later on what this receivership means.