Monsour Medical Center
The abandoned Monsour Medical Center towered over Route 30 in Jeannette, Pennsylvania.
Updated January 1, 2020 | By Matthew Christopher
The abandoned Monsour Medical Center in Jeannette, Pennsylvania was a highly visible ruin that loomed over Route 30 in Westmoreland Country for years before it was finally demolished in 2016. Dubbed the Monsour Monstrosity by some locals, the hospital consisted of a eleven story circular tower, the hospital building itself, a surgical pavilion building across the road, and an historic house that was originally a stage coach stop built in 1783.
It was within that small house that the hospital was first founded as a medical clinic operated by four brothers. Howard, Robert, Roy, and William Monsour, all physicians, were the children of Syrian immigrants. Together with their mother Eva Monsour they established the Monsour Hospital and Clinic in 1952. A 1958 addition funded largely by community donations increased capacity by 100 beds, and in 1971 the tower was built, adding 250 more beds. At this point the facility was renamed the Monsour Medical Center, and shortly thereafter the complex was sold to the Monsour Medical Foundation Inc. nonprofit, a move that supposedly distanced the Monsour family from the hospital’s management.
An abandoned pediatric ward in the Monsour Medical Center
The flurry of financial problems and lawsuits that would haunt the Monsour Medical Center until its closure first became notable in 1979, when a federal investigation into the hospital alleged fraud in its Medicare/Medicaid filings via false claims. Dr. William Monsour plead guilty in a plea bargain deal.
The medical center filed for bankruptcy in 1980 and emerged from it in 1989, but its problems were far from over. The management company that had been hired to rescue the Monsour Medical Center was accused of financial mismanagement and fired in 1990, only to sue the board. Howard Monsour petitioned the court to remove William as the hospital’s medical director and General Glass Industries Corp of Jeannette filed a lawsuit alleging that William and another employee plundered insurer Keystone Medical Services, owned by the Monsour Medical Foundation Inc., using health insurance premiums to found new clinics, which bankrupted Keystone and left more than $1 million in unpaid medical bills.
When the Monsour Medical Center was abandoned, it was still filled with patient records, medical waste, and hazardous materials.
The growing schism between the Monsour Medical Foundation board and the Monsour Medical Center board paralyzed the facility. The county was desperate not to lose the hospital; healthcare jobs were the primary source of employment in the area, but financially the hospital was in dire straits. The Monsour Medical Center owed $1.1 million to the IRS and another $19 million for the Jeannette Health Services Authority bond that rescued them from bankruptcy. The surgical pavilion named after Eva that was supposed to open in 1990 remained incomplete with no money to finish it. Monsour Medical Center filed for bankruptcy a second time.
In 2002, an anesthesiologist at the hospital committed suicide by plunging over Niagara Falls. A week earlier, he had been charged with stealing the painkiller fentanyl from Monsour Medical Center and replacing it with sterile water which was then given to the patients during surgery. This may have contributed to licensing problems starting in 2004 attributed to ‘quality of care’ issues; the hospital was given a provisional licensing restricting their ability to use anesthesia and perform surgery. Monsour Medical Center filed for bankruptcy a third time, and was dropped as a provider by Highmark Insurance.
After the Monsour Medical Center was abandoned, it was destroyed by vandals and arsonists. The distinct patterns on the walls and ceiling are caused by water from firefighting efforts trickling through soot from the smoke.
Monsour Medical Center abruptly closed in 2006, with a loss of 240 jobs. The buildings were left full of equipment, medications, patient files, radioactive material, biohazards, and other toxic waste such as asbestos and mercury. More than $800,000 in back taxes were owed and there were liens of more than $30 million on the property. The county was unable to locate the property owners for cleanup, and it sat empty for a decade, targeted by vandals and scrappers. It also attracted arsonists, who set the buildings on fire over a dozen times, temporarily shutting down Route 30 in 2014.
That same year, the Westmoreland County Land Bank was finally able to purchase the property at a judicial sale for $15,712. Their first order of business was abatement and demolition of the property. The tower proved particularly resilient, with half of the collapsed building hanging on by the stairwells, but it finally came down in 2016. As with so many places that are ultimately abandoned and destroyed, one can't help but wonder why there couldn't have been a better outcome for a place that aided so many in the community around it.
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