Nurses file objection to creditors' plan for Forum

YOUNGSTOWN

The Ohio Nurses Association has filed an objection to the stand-alone reorganization plan for Forum Health proposed recently by the bankrupt health care system’s major secured creditors.

In a motion filed Friday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court here, the deadline for objecting, ONA said the creditors’ plan “cannot be confirmed on its face as a matter of law” and that their filing with the court does not contain “adequate information” to be evaluated.

The ONA’s Youngstown General Duty Nurses Association represents about 400 nurses at Northside Medical Center, one of Forum’s three hospitals.

The others are Trumbull Memorial Hospital in Warren and Hillside Rehabilitation Hospital in Howland. On March 16, 2009, Forum filed for protection under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.

In its motion, ONA says the proposed plan of the creditors, known collectively as the consent parties, is “fatally flawed” because it is dependent on additional labor concessions which cannot be lawfully obtained from the ONA.

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