McDowell County Heir Sues To Keep Hospital Open 

Greg Harman, a McDowell County resident whose great uncle donated the land for what is now the Welch Community Hospital, has filed a lawsuit he hopes will keep the hospital open.  

“He’s an original heir of the donor, who was Jacob J. Sperry, [who] donated the land in 1899 to fulfill a state bill that the legislature passed to create three miner hospitals across the state. One was specified for McDowell County,” Bucky Lewis, Harman’s attorney, said. “He donated it for the purpose of creating Miners Hospital Number One. The agreement was, basically, if the state abandons the hospital or ceases to occupy the hospital, then it would revert. The property would revert back to the original grantor or his heirs.” 

Earlier this month, Harman said he’d been offered $5,000 to sell his rights to the land. 

“This would infer that the West Virginia Department Of Health Facilities, which presently operates the hospital, wants to either sell the property or change its usage,” Harman posted on Facebook. “I do not want to do anything that could lead to the loss of the county’s only remaining health facility.” 

Instead, he’s filed suit, asking a court to protect the public’s interest in continued healthcare access. 

“You’ve had countless, numerous, hundreds of people that have been saved, their lives have been saved and extended by this hospital, and what our lawsuit is all about is making sure that a judge oversees the future use of the hospital,” Lewis said.  

The case is pending before Judge Rudolph J. Murensky II in McDowell County Circuit Court.