Note: this letter was published in the August 24, 2020 edition of the Toledo Blade.
Thanks to The Blade for continuing to fact-check ProMedica over the academic affiliation agreement with the University of Toledo.
On Aug. 13, The Blade reported that Ohio Attorney General David Yost said that his office is examining the agreement, marking the first time that Mr. Yost publicly confirmed he is looking into what appears to be ProMedica’s attempted hostile takeover of the University of Toledo Medical Center, the former Medical College of Ohio Hospital.
I joined with other Northwest Ohio legislators for a July news conference that included praise for Mr. Yost’s decision to halt for 90 days the transfer of UTMC’s orthopedic services — a profitable wing of the hospital — to ProMedica Toledo Hospital. ProMedica responded to our praise for Mr. Yost by saying it “voluntarily agreed to postpone’’ the transfer.
This was ProMedica’s latest effort to deceive the public. ProMedica did not “voluntarily” agree to the postponement — it’s clear that Ohio’s Attorney General forced them to.
This might seem like a trivial dispute. It’s not.
We have witnessed the systematic transfer of people, programs, and profits from UTMC — a public research and teaching hospital paid for by taxpayers — to ProMedica, a private hospital.
My colleagues and I remain committed to saving UTMC and determining who tried to engineer its destruction. Unlike ProMedica, we vow to continue to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth along the way.
State Sen. TERESA FEDOR
Toledo