Proposed closure of MWMC cancer department prompts hearing

Photo | Grant Welker MetroWest Medical Center's Framingham Union Hospital

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By Alexander MacDougall

Various state and public officials, nurses’ union members, and representatives of the Tenet Healthcare corporation will gather at Framingham’s city hall on Wednesday evening to discuss the proposed closure of the oncology department at MetroWest Medical Center.

The parent company of MetroWest Medical Center – Texas-based Tenet Healthcare – first announced plans to close the oncology department, which deals with cancer treatment, in April, a move which drew quick condemnation from state and local government officials, including Framingham Mayor Charlie Sisitsky and Massachusetts Senate President Karen Spilka, who represents the city.

The Wednesday hearing marks the first time the Massachusetts Department of Public Health has held an in-person hearing since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Katie Murphy, the president of the Massachusetts Nurses Association labor union and a Framingham resident, intends on testifying during the public hearing in opposition to the proposed closure. It isn’t the first time the MNA has stringently opposed Tenet Healthcare, as the company runs Saint Vincent Hospital in Worcester, where nurses staged a 301-day strike last year, in response to staffing issues.

“As a practicing nurse, and on behalf of nurses who provide oncology care in the commonwealth, I can tell you there is no medical, no moral, and no financial justification for Tenet’s decision to abandon this vital service to this community,” said Murphy in a statement put out by the MNA prior to the public hearing. “For patients coping with a cancer diagnosis, the stress, anxiety and physical strain can be an enormous burden, which makes local access to treatment vital for positive outcomes.”

In a statement issued back in April to the Framingham Source news outlet, MetroWest Medical Center said it would still do cancer screenings and biopsies, but more advanced treatment would be consolidated at other Tenet-owned locations, such as Saint Vincent.

“This decision was driven with the community’s best interest in mind and, despite the loss of the financial contribution of the program, it is the right thing to do to ensure better collaboration with centers of excellence in cancer treatment,” the MetroWest statement to Framingham Source read.

The meeting will take place at Nivens Hall inside Framingham City Hall at 6 p.m. Wednesday.