U.S. Trustee Guy Gebhardt has asked a bankruptcy judge to half a "fire sale" by Hutcheson Medical Center of a clinic it owns at Trenton, Ga.
Hutcheson, continuing to make cost-cutting measures, is seeking court approval to sell the Trenton Family Practice for $350,000.
Trustee Gebhardt said the hospital had failed to show that it was receiving a fair market value in the proposed sale to the Dade County Industrial Development Authority.
The trustee said at the end of July the hospital had accumulated just over $5 million in new debt since going into the bankruptcy 10 months ago. He said it appears the hospital debt is now at $6.3 million.
He said the patient care ombudsman on Aug. 14 informed him "that she was concerned about the increased strain on the debtors' clinical lab as evidenced by the increasingly tight staffing patterns, delayed supply delivery necessitating borrowing of standard items from other facilities to meet patient care needs, and analyzer equipment problems."
Hutcheson officials claim that patient care has improved during the bankruptcy process.
The U.S. trustee said the proposal is a private sale that would not be subject to higher and better offers.
Ted Rumley, county executive for Dade County, said the medical center is so important for the county that officials have arranged for the IDB to buy it.
He said arrangements were being made "with a major hospital in Chattanooga" to operate it.
Judge Paul Bonapfel of Rome, Ga., is overseeing the case.