With the fate of Steward hospitals like Morton in Taunton hanging in the balance, State Sen. Marc Pacheco said Southeastern Massachusetts and the Cape and Islands “cannot withstand any further loss of healthcare in terms of hospital closings.”

“That just can’t happen. It would be a threat to the region’s health, when we’re already in a crisis situation,” the Taunton Democrat said at a state hearing in Taunton Wednesday, April 24, on the precarious state of healthcare in this region of the state.

The hearing of the Senate Post Audit & Oversight Committee, which Pacheco chairs, took place against the backdrop of the ongoing financial crisis enveloping Steward Health Care, which owns eight hospitals in Massachusetts, including Morton, Saint Anne’s in Fall River and Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton.

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