Hospital Merger Docs Should Be Released, According to Judge

A judge has ordered West Virginia’s attorney general to release 89 documents about the merger of two hospitals in Huntington. Attorney General Patrick Morrisey’s office another day to appeal the ruling that he release about one-quarter of the documents he has withheld from public view relating to his investigation into the hospital merger. In his order Friday, Kanawha County Circuit Judge Tod Kaufman wrote the public has a right to know about the “hotly-contested merger” of Cabell Huntington Hospital and St. Mary’s Medical Center. Morrisey has fought for more than a year to shield the documents from the public. Kaufman’s ruling follows his behind-closed-doors review of 349 documents that Morrisey has refused to release.