Local Hospital Closures Causing Care Crisis
Imagine calling 911 for a loved one in medical distress—only to wait precious minutes longer than ever before. Or driving to an emergency room to find an overcrowded lobby and an eight-hour wait. For residents of Delaware County, this isn't hypothetical. This is reality since the closure of Crozer Health, according to a recent report by CBS News.
A Healthcare Void
Delaware County, the fifth-largest county in Pennsylvania with more than 600,000 residents, has lost four hospitals in just over five years. The latest blow came when Crozer Health—once the county’s largest medical system—shut its doors, taking with it essential hospital beds, emergency departments, and ambulance services that once supported an entire region. Township leaders are sounding the alarm, citing serious concerns about ambulance coverage and ER delays, especially for seniors and vulnerable residents.
Ambulance Access: A Patchwork Fix
Before Crozer closed, its ambulance services provided free advanced life support coverage across the county. Now? Townships are scrambling. Some have struck costly contracts with private providers. Others, like Lower Chichester, are facing staggering estimates—upwards of $350,000 just to purchase a new ambulance. To make matters worse, even towns that finance their own ambulances must share them due to mutual aid agreements, which means that tax dollars may not guarantee exclusive service when it matters most.
Emergency Room Gridlock
With Crozer-Chester Medical Center and Taylor Hospital shuttered, nearby facilities like Riddle Hospital are absorbing the overflow—and struggling. Riddle has seen a 42% increase in volumesince Crozer’s closure. That’s led to reports of patients waiting eight hours or more just to be seen for urgent but non-life-threatening issues. Delaware County already had the fewest hospital beds per capita in the Philadelphia region. Now, the gap is wider than ever.
The Medical Malpractice Connection
As attorneys who represent victims of medical negligence, we understand the high stakes of delayed or inaccessible care.
- Longer wait times can worsen outcomes. For some life-threatening conditions, a delay—even by minutes—can result in irreversible harm.
- Ambulance shortages may lead to slower response times or reliance on less-equipped units.
- Overcrowded ERs increase the risk of errors, from misdiagnosis to medication mistakes.
Patients deserve better than a broken healthcare system in a moment of crisis. If you need an top attorney for Philadelphia medical malpractice cases, know that Tom Duffy has obtained recoveries and settlements from most of the large teaching hospitals and universities in the Philadelphia area. Please contact us to see if he can help with your medical malpractice case.