A bankruptcy judge has issued an order that opens the door to possible legal action that could be a step toward the purchase of Sharon Regional Medical Center by the Meadville Medical Center.

An order filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Dallas acknowledges that nothing in the current bankruptcy proceedings involving Sharon Regional owner Steward Health Care prohibits Pennsylvania’s Attorney General from suing Medical Properties Trust, which owns the property where Sharon Regional operates.

After Steward Health Care threatened to close Sharon Regional Medical Center, the Meadville Medical Center offered to purchase the 163-bed hospital.

In September, the state committed $4.5 million to pay Sharon Regional’s 750 workers and cover other costs of operating the hospital for three months while negotiations for its sale continued.

The court order says that although negotiations between Meadville Medical Center and Steward are progressing, Pennsylvania’s Attorney General has been unable to reach an agreement with Medical Properties Trust.

The Attorney General claims that Medical Properties Trust has no valid title to the Sharon Regional Property, something MPT denies.

The order allows the Attorney General to pursue legal claims against MPT, including asking Mercer County Common Pleas Court to issue an injunction preventing some of MPT’s alleged actions in the matter and to rule on the ownership of Sharon Regional’s property.

The bankruptcy court emphasizes that the order does not determine the merits of the claims by either party.

In October, the bankruptcy court named Insight Health Solutions as the new operator of two of Steward's other Valley Hospitals, Trumbull Regional Medical Center in Warren, and Hillside Rehabilitation Hospital in Howland.

o