27. Morgan County Medical Center

The rambling, bucolic medical center belies the constant quagmire of lawsuits, hospital politics and sloppily practiced medicine. If people’s health weren’t at stake, the hospital would be a laughingstock, but because people die there every day, it’s a testament to the often depressing realities of state-funded hospitals. Many of the hospital’s doctors live in the aging upper-class neighborhood surrounding the medical center, but only the ones who became wealthy before the modern advent of HMOs, PPOs and the broadscale decay of American health care. For the new doctors just getting into the business, it’s a never-ending maelstrom of 80-hour workweeks, back-to-back double shifts and wondering why the hell anyone would take out so many student loans to finish med school anyway.

Background

The hospital itself is new, but some of the malpractice suits involving it date back to the previous hospital building, which was demolished when the new hospital was finished in 2001. No one with decent insurance chooses to go to Morgan for their health-care needs. The well-insured visit Black Lake Presbyterian, 10 miles out of town to the north. Morgan County Med has an excellent trauma unit, however. One would assume it’s because of all the practice they get.

Alternative Name(s)

Medical Center, Hospital

Type

District

Location under

New Castle