The future of Sharon Regional Medical Center is in jeopardy after Buhl Legacy Trust agreed to continue its litigation over the hospital during a closed meeting on Wednesday. Medical Properties Trust stated it is hesitant to reopen the facility with the litigation looming, and released this statement Wednesday evening:

“MPT has been and continues to be fully committed to successfully reopening this hospital for the people of Sharon. That is why we worked tirelessly and collaboratively through the holidays to reach an agreement that all other stakeholders including the Commonwealth support. And that is why we agreed to fund more than $10 million to ensure a smooth transition to new operators.

“However, MPT and Tenor Health are unable to proceed with our agreement to reopen the hospital due to the Trust’s actions today. It is now abundantly clear that the Trust is more interested in re-litigating a decade-old transaction than serving the best interests of the Sharon Community.”

This comes after the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas approved Tenor Health as the successful bidder to purchase Sharon Regional Medical Center just days after the hospital closed.

The Legacy Trust has argued discrepancies involving who owns the hospital, stating its previous owners, Community Health Systems agreed not to sell the hospital for five years.

When SRMC was sold to Steward Health, the Legacy Trust claims it was not stated that MPT would own the building and lease it to Steward. Legacy Trust's board believes that's a violation of their agreement and is suing to get the hospital back.

Charles Kelly, Buhl Legacy Trust's lawyer, told 21 News that MPT was aware the hospital's chillers did not work properly last year. "MPT should have known that they needed to be fixed. And who put up the $600k cost for that? Buhl Legacy Trust," Kelly told 21 News. "Buhl cares about the community."

Kelly stated the Department of Health of Pennsylvania requested hospital repairs, costing more than $100k, and Buhl Legacy Trust also paid for that expense.

"If they really were interested in the community as they say they are, they would quickly get their checkbook out and invest in the hospital," Kelly said. "The likelihood of Tenor Health, their hand-picked next operator failing, is very high."

Buhl Legacy Trust released a statement late Wednesday afternoon saying they will not surrender to MPT, saying they were not included in the negotiations for Tenor to purchase the hospital, nor did they include them as part of the opposite deal.

The statement goes on to slam MPT, saying their threat to scuttle the deal if Buhl Trust didn't enter the agreement suggests they do not care about the hospital or its patients.

The statement reads in part:

"MPT’s threat suggests that it truly is not serious about reviving the hospital, but rather is actually engaged in a scheme to force Legacy Trust to abandon the community’s claim for all the damage done to Sharon Regional Medical Center and this community."

"It is ironic that MPT, after reducing the hospital to a patient on life support and interfering with the efforts of the community and Meadville Medical Center to save the hospital, now professes to be among those trying to save the hospital."

"Worse yet, as part of its misinformation campaign, MPT is attempting to portray Legacy Trust as an obstacle in the effort to save the hospital."

The statement goes on to say because of MPT, the hospital is now "a patient in serious heart failure and near death."

"MPT’s threat to kill any resuscitative effort unless this community surrenders its claim for the terrible damage done over the last decade is unconscionable, but exactly what we have come to expect from MPT,"  the statement reads.

21 News reached out to Sharon leaders several times Wednesday and did not get a response.