West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park faces a possible power shutoff on July 8 after ComEd posted a notice for unpaid electric bills. The risk is unfolding amid an ongoing court fight between the hospital’s owners and after the village shut the facility dow
The lights at West Suburban Medical Center could go out on July 8.
ComEd posted a notice on the Oak Park hospital’s doors earlier this month warning that power would be turned off if the owner didn’t catch up on electric bill payments by July 8. The threat landed as the hospital’s future is already under strain—during a Monday hearing in Cook County court in an ongoing legal battle between its two owners.
The hospital was recently shut down by the village of Oak Park because all 28 of its elevators have stopped working. On June 11. the village’s fire department was called to West Suburban after patients coming in for appointments couldn’t use the clinics’ top-floor access. and couldn’t reach the ground floor afterward. according to a village spokesperson. Oak Park is requiring the hospital to repair at least two elevators before it can reopen. and the spokesperson said that has yet to happen.
During Monday’s hearing, Judge Patrick Stanton again emphasized the need for a plan to reopen the hospital. Lawyers for Manoj Prasad and Rathnakar Reddy Patlola are scheduled to return to court Thursday morning to continue working through a settlement plan.
Prasad is the CEO and majority owner of Resilience Healthcare, which owns West Suburban, West Suburban’s River Forest medical campus, and Weiss Memorial Hospital in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood. Patlola is the minority owner of Resilience and the landlord for all three hospital properties.
Prasad abruptly closed West Suburban in March, citing issues with the hospital’s billing system. He reopened some outpatient clinics in April. PCC Community Wellness Center operates its own clinics at West Suburban and had remained open until the elevators failed.
The elevator breakdown and the closure set the stage for the owners’ dispute. Patlola tried to oust Prasad and evict Resilience from both hospitals and the associated medical office buildings. Prasad then filed suit against Patlola to stop the eviction. Patlola countersued. asking a judge to appoint a receiver to take control of West Suburban’s operations so it could reopen.
Three weeks ago, Stanton ruled against Patlola’s emergency request for a receiver, saying his lawyers did not meet the burden of proof.
Representatives for the hospital’s owners, Manoj Prasad and Rathnakar Reddy Patlola, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. A ComEd spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Stanton’s focus on a reopening plan now comes as the hospital faces a deadline for electricity—one more pressure layered onto repairs that Oak Park says have not yet been completed.
West Suburban Medical Center Oak Park ComEd unpaid electric bill power shutoff July 8 Cook County court Patrick Stanton Manoj Prasad Rathnakar Reddy Patlola Resilience Healthcare elevators outage