Madera Community Hospital is filing for bankruptcy and will close its doors to new patients at midnight on Jan. 3, the hospital’s CEO said in a news release.

Hospital CEO Karen  Paolinelli said that the emergency room, obstetrics, outpatient, and surgery departments will close then. Any hospitalized patients will transfer to other facilities by Jan. 17.

The hospital also operates health clinics in Madera, Chowchilla, and Mendota. Those will close on Jan. 10.

Heavy Financial Losses

Paolinelli cited large financial losses since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic as the reason for the hospital’s closure. She said hospital leaders tried to arrange additional state funding to continue, but those efforts didn’t bear fruit.

The hospital’s scheduled closure followed apparent good news when state Attorney General Rob Bonta approved Madera Community’s sale to Trinity Health, which operates Saint Agnes Medical Center in Fresno.

But Trinity officials pulled back, saying that conditions imposed by Bonta made it impossible to take over Madera Community. Bonta responded that Trinity “callously” decided to terminate the sale, thus leaving “vulnerable communities in need.”