Community members are sounding the alarm at Weiss Memorial Hospital’s plans to sell a surface parking lot, which they say could signal a plan to shutter the Uptown hospital that boasts a novel surgery center for transgender patients.
“I am thankful that the committee voted to delay the vote, which allowed us two weeks to gather feedback on the building’s design and send that to the developer,” she says. “It also allows more time for each of the members of the zoning and development committee to be able to outreach the neighbors that they each represent to see what their feedback is about this proposal.”
Pipeline Health bought Weiss, Westlake Hospital, and West Suburban Medical Center from Tenet Healthcare Corporation in a deal that closed January 2019. But soon after, Pipeline shuttered Westlake in Melrose Park despite promises to keep it open. The operator later settled a lawsuit over the closing for $1.5 million.
“This is not a particularly common thing: medical centers, housed in hospitals for gender-related surgeries,” she says. “They’re not sprouting up all over the place.”
“There are not that many surgeons that even consider doing phalloplasty,” she says. “It’s a constantly evolving procedure, they’re very difficult to find, even harder to get covered by insurance. And the fact that we have a surgeon who is willing and able to do that, servicing the community for so long in Chicago, it’s an invaluable resource. And if we lose that, I’m sure Dr. Schechter will find someplace to go but who knows where and how accessible it will be?”
