On Saturday, September 24, 2011, JNESO District Council 1, a union representing several hundred nurses employed by the Hudson Healthcare, Inc. Debtor at the Hoboken University Medical Center, issued a subpoena to Sills Cummis & Gross P.C., counsel for the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors of the Debtor.

JNESO is seeking copies of all deposition transcripts in the Bankruptcy Case and  all documents produced to the Committee by the Debtor, the Authority, the proposed purchaser of the Hospital, or the City of Hoboken.

On Monday, September 21, 2011, New Jersey State Senator Loretta Weinberg (D-District 37), chair of the Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee held a hearing on the growing concerns of Hospital Privatization issues.

After reading press accounts about an attorney working for the Hoboken Municipal Hospital Arthority who said in a filed certification to the United States Bankruptcy Court, District of New Jersey;

"During the period of retention, which ended on July 15,2011, I was a firsthand witness to apattern of conduct by HMHA members to intimidate, threaten, control, abuse, and attempt to force the CEO of HHI and members of the HHI Board to take actions adverse to its charter and otherwise to violate the laws of the State of New Jersey."

Weinberg requested an investigation by United States Attorney, District of New Jersey and the New Jersey State Attorney General.

The U.S. Attorney, District of New Jersey on behalf of the Secretary of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (“the Secretary”) submitted a Federal Bankruptcy filing to apprise the Purchaser and other interested parties of the consequences surrounding the Purchaser’s acceptance of the Provider Agreement or,alternatively, the Purchaser’s rejection of any such assignment and the Secretary’s opposition to anyattempt to transfer the Hospital’s Medicare Provider Agreement without successor liability.

"Moreover, because the Hoboken Municipal Hospital Authority (and therefore, not the Debtor) is the holder of the Medicare Provider Agreement and is not in bankruptcy, any transaction regarding the transfer of its Provider Agreement with the Secretary must take place outside the scope of this court’s jurisdiction."

In related events, more than one creditor listed by Hoboken Healthcare, Inc. Debtor have filed OBJECTION TO THE DEBTOR’S MOTION FOR ENTRY OF AN ORDER APPROVING SETTLEMENT AND COMPROMISE claiming they have a valid, binding claim directly against the Hoboken Municipal Hospital Authority, a non-debtor, based upon a contract with the Hoboken Municipal Hospital Authority. 

The September 19, 2011 nj.com published headline said it all “Lawyer from Hoboken Hospital Authority says critics are wrong about events that led to hospital's bankruptcy filing.”

A lawyer with the Hoboken Hospital Authority says critics are purposefully mischaracterizing the events leading up to the bankruptcy of the city’s hospital to further their own agenda.

In the most detailed defense of allegations that the city-backed authority pushed the hospital into bankruptcy, the authority’s attorney Ken Rosen said the hospital was spending money it did not have and incorrectly assumed the city would pick up the difference.

Donald Scarinci, Esq.

To be honest, I don't give a flying fcuk who buys Hoboken University Medical Center, nor do I care about the day to day jousting between Mayor Zimmer and the Anti-Zimmer foes. 

But what really gets my attention are allegations of criminal misbehavior made by an “officer” of the Court against the Hoboken Hospital Municipal Authority with respect to their overseeing of the Hoboken University Medical Center.

The Star Ledger reported that "the attorney for Hoboken University Hospital says he resigned in July because he feared the city was committing fraud by engineering the bankruptcy of its hospital."

"During the period of retention, which ended on July 15,2011, I was a firsthand witness to a pattern of conduct by HMHA members to intimidate, threaten, control, abuse, and attempt to force the CEO of HHI and members of the HHI Board to take actions adverse to its charter and otherwise to violate the laws of the State of New Jersey."

In court documents filed September 13, 2011 by Joseph J. DiPasquale of TRENK, DIPASQUALE, WEBSTER, DELLA FERA & SODONO, P.C., Attorneys for Hudson Healthcare, Inc., Debtor,  claim "the Creditors' Committee and Donald Scarinci, Esq. concede that they met on August 25, 2011 at Scarinci & Hollenbeck's office without any notice to the Debtor and for the sole purpose of obtaining information concerning Scarinci's former client, the Debtor.   Scarinci & Hollenbeck, was the general counsel for the hospital and its board from 2009 until July 16, about two weeks before the facility filed for bankruptcy.

In a continuing case of déjà vu, it looks like the Hoboken Municipal Hospital Authority may have once again exposed the Hoboken taxpayers to legal liabilities associated with the Hudson Healthcare, Inc. bankruptcy.

In a September 13, 2011 Federal Bankruptcy Court filing, the North Hudson Sewage Authority asserts that the HOBOKEN MUNICIPAL HOSPITAL AUTHORITY is responsible for unpaid sewage charges in excess of $ 473,517.00.

As the wheels of justice slowly turn, new filings in the Hudson Healthcare, Inc. bankruptcy case continue to bring eye-opening insight into the troubled finances of the Hoboken University Medical Center and the oversight of the Hoboken Municipal Hospital Authority.

In court papers filed September 13, 2011 in Federal Bankruptcy Court, Olympus America, Inc. asserted a valid, binding claim directly against the Hoboken University Hospital Authority, a non-debtor, based upon its contract with the Hoboken Municipal Hospital Authority.  If the Court agrees, the City of Hoboken may be responsible for payments in excess of $ 372,861.08.

A new television ad about the U.S. national debt produced by Citizens Against Government Waste has been deemed “too controversial” by major networks including ABC, A&E and The History Channel and will not be shown on those channels. The commercial is a homage to a 1986 ad that was entitled “The Deficit Trials” that was also banned by the major networks.  Apparently telling the truth about the national debt is a little too “hot” for the major networks to handle.  But perhaps it is time to tell the American people the truth.  In 1986, the U.S. national debt was around 2 trillion dollars.  Today, it is rapidly approaching 14 trillion dollars. The American Dream is being ripped apart right in front of our eyes, but apparently some of the major networks don’t want the American people to really understand what is going on.

N.J. State Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver tells the Philidelphia Inquirer that Gov. Chris Christie was lying when he told a crowd of gathered Republican supporters that she had asked him to help save her job during the final tense moments before the landmark vote on pension and benefits reform.  Listen to the audio tape.