Pa. Attorney General intervenes in Delaware County Memorial Hospital dispute

DREXEL HILL, Pennsylvania (WPVI) -- The Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office is intervening in the dispute surrounding Delaware County Memorial Hospital.

The video in the player above is from previous coverage on this story.

On Tuesday, the AG's office asked a judge to hold the hospital's owner-- Prospect Media Holdings-- in contempt in connection with the recent closure of the hospital.

It wants Prospect to be fined $100,000 a day for violating an agreement to keep the hospital open.

The AG's office argues Prospect allowed staffing levels to fall to unacceptably low levels.

SEE ALSO: Officials: Delaware County Memorial emergency dept. closed due to 'failure to adequately staff'

On November 4, the Department of Health suspended the ER and hospital admissions because of low staffing.

Attorney General Josh Shapiro released this statement on the filing:

"Every Pennsylvanian deserves access to healthcare. My office will use every tool available to us to continue to ensure the people of Delaware County have access to the care they need. The order provided by the Department of Health requires that DCMH close their emergency room doors until staffing issues are resolved. Prospect's failure to resolve its staffing shortages violates the injunction that the trial court imposed to maintain the hospital's service lines and Prospect cannot be permitted to forgo resolving the Department of Health's order to avoid meeting the staffing demands of the trial court order."