By Chito Vela
Mercy Hospital and Doctors Hospital seem to agree on very little these days. Over the last few years, the two hospitals have fought over almost everything. In 1997, physicians affiliated with Doctors Hospital sued Mercy for denying them full staff privileges at Mercy Hospital. Mercy responded by accusing the Doctors Hospital physicians of trying to undermine the quality of health care at Mercy Hospital. The two hospitals butted heads again over the local branch of the University of Texas Health Science Center. Doctors Hospital physicians accused Mercy Hospital of excluding them from the decision-making and not allowing them to participate with the UT Health Science Center. Recently, though, the two hospitals finally found something that they could agree upon -- Laredo does not need a third hospital.

MedRealty, a group of Laredo doctors attempting to build another hospital here, applied for a grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. HUD helps build hospitals in areas of the country that are medically underserved. In a rare show of unity, the CEOs of both Doctors and Mercy showed up at a city council meeting to oppose the project, arguing that there wasn't the need, the demand, nor the staff to support a third Laredo hospital. Just a year earlier, both hospitals were talking about "the health crisis in our hometown" when lobbying the University of Texas Board of Regents for approval of the local Health Science Center.

Almost everyone except the CEOs of Mercy and Doctors Hospitals will tell you that Laredo needs more physicians and more hospital beds. A study commissioned by the Texas Department of Public Health concluded that Laredo both needs and could support a third hospital. A quick look at Texas counties of similar size shows Bell County (pop. 228,392) with three hospitals and 961 beds, McLennan County (pop. 204,584) with three hospitals and 621 beds, Lubbock County (pop. 231,302) with five hospitals and 1,862 beds, and Jefferson County (pop. 245,646) with eight hospitals and 1,949 beds. Webb County has two hospitals with 443 beds for a population of 196,815.

Most Laredoans would not need a scientific study to tell them that we need more doctors and more health care facilities. They can tell you about having to wait three or four months to see a doctor. They can tell you about having to wait hours in the emergency room, or agonizing as a loved one waits for a bed to open up in the intensive care unit. The city council, in a strong show of support, voted 8-0 to support MedRealty's grant application to HUD. Unfortunately, the grant application was turned down, with some observers blaming the denial on the combined political clout of both Mercy and Doctors Hospitals.

A third hospital in Laredo brings good, well-paying jobs and economic development to the community. It helps Laredo become more of a regional medical center. A third hospital brings property tax revenues into city, county, and school district coffers. It would benefit local health education, especially the nursing programs at Laredo Community College and Texas A&M International University. Another hospital means more internships and academic opportunities for local health care students.

Why do both local hospitals oppose the creation of a third hospital? Are they considering the community's interest or their own financial interests? The two hospitals' political battles are affecting the quality of health care and hurt Laredo's chances of getting the local University of Texas Health Science Center. When both local hospitals complain about Laredoans always going to San Antonio for health care, they have no one to blame but themselves.