A note on the door said that the locks of the spaces rented by Ashland Ventures LLC in 1917, the owners who registered the hospital, had been changed and would be given keys only when $ 461,302.24 was paid in rent and taxes.
Staff members said they were not given any warnings or opportunities to alert their patients or collect their personal belongings inside.
“I tried to contact the owners,” said Dr. Felicity Mack, who is listed as a doctor at the hospital. “I don’t answer. The title company doesn’t answer. We don’t receive any answer, but at the end of the day, my main concern, as I said, is my patients.”
Mack tried on Monday to treat patients who needed help caring for injuries in the parking lot, but failed to get other equipment inside to treat others, such as Linda Fisher.
She said she comes several times a week for care from Mack for the severe persistent effects of COVID-19.
“It’s to the detriment of my patients, too,” Fisher said in a wheelchair. “It will have an impact on my functionality. I get regular visits all the time, so I don’t know what will happen.”
Mack said security would not allow them to enter the building and police were also seen on the scene, informing staff that they were not allowed access.
Dr. John Thomas, another doctor who was left wondering what was going on, said that this sends a message to their patients that their lives do not matter.
“It’s very obvious that someone is only thinking about money and not community and lives,” Thomas said.
According to staff, there are three suppliers operating from the 1917 Ashland Street building in Heights. Patients and employees of the other groups received access.
Meanwhile, property records show that the building is owned by 1917 Heights Hospital LLC.
The lawyers listed on the letter posted at the hospital door did not return on Monday the ABC13 request for comments by phone.
Eyewitness News learned that a civil lawsuit was filed in Harris County against 1917 Heights Hospital LLC in July 2020 by Integranet Physician Resource Inc., claiming that they were not paid $ 300,000.
Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee showed up at the hospital Monday afternoon and knocked on the door, but was also denied access.
She called the situation “outrageous.”
“If they pretend to be a hospital or a medical institution, there is federal involvement and I don’t think they will be looked at for any reimbursement they owe from the federal government that closed patients’ doors,” the congresswoman said.
In addition to not knowing how to proceed with patient care, Heights Hospital staff is not sure if they will be paid.
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