Rumors started flying in early 2015 that WellStar Health System and Emory Healthcare were contemplating a merger that would have created, in the words of WellStar CEO Reynold J. Jennings, “one of the most innovative and transformational healthcare systems in the industry.”
This week the discussions, somewhat ironically, were ended by WellStar, to the dismay of Emory Healthcare, which said in a statement released Tuesday that it, “continues to believe that the proposed combination of Emory Healthcare and WellStar Health System would serve our communities well as a way to extend the benefits of our renowned academic medical center to a larger population of patients in metro Atlanta, as well as the state of Georgia and beyond.”
WellStar instead will link LaGrange-based West Georgia Health into its pre-existing network of hospitals in the Atlanta metro.
Ellis trial restarts
The trial for suspended DeKalb County CEO Burrell Ellis began for the second time Tuesday after the jury could not reach a verdict over the same charges in 2014. Ellis faces nine charges in total, mainly for extortion and bribery. He is accused of pressuring DeKalb vendors into offering up campaign contributions for his 2012 re-election bid, threatening to take away their county contracts should they refuse.
His defense attorney, Craig Gillen, offered the rebuttal that the entire situation is a misunderstanding and the result of a witch-hunt against his client. Said Gillen Tuesday, “Not one thin dime went into Burell Ellis’ pocket that wasn’t supposed to be there. Not a single, solitary dime.”
The trial is projected to take less than two weeks to finish. Should Ellis be acquitted he will re-assume his role as county CEO, taking over for interim CEO Lee May who himself is the subject of a federal investigation regarding preferential treatment from a plumbing company that later won a lucrative contract from DeKalb County.
