Lawsuit seeks to keep Welch Community Hospital open under old deed

A McDowell County resident filed suit June 17 in McDowell County Circuit Court seeking to keep Welch Community Hospital operating under an 1899 deed that Greg Harman says still binds the land to a charitable purpose. The case, brought by a descendant of Jacob J. Sperry, puts the county’s only hospital back at the center of a fight over ownership, control, and whether the property can be redirected for anything other than community care.

For Welch and the surrounding towns of Keystone, Gary, War, and Northfork, the stakes are immediate. Welch Community Hospital is the county’s only hospital, so any sale, privatization, or change in operating model would affect emergency access, staffing, jobs, and treatment options for people who have no nearby backup facility. In a county where residents already have to watch closely for changes in public services, the hospital’s future carries far more weight than a routine property dispute.

The lawsuit names the West Virginia Department of Health Facilities and Attorney General John B. McCuskey as defendants. Harman’s filing asks the circuit court to preserve the hospital’s charitable purpose under the old deed tied to the land, a legal argument that could shape what happens to the property even if state leaders continue to explore a different ownership path.

The filing also deepens an already tense public debate over the hospital’s future. Earlier in June, the McDowell County Commission said it learned about sale or privatization discussions through public posts rather than through formal consultation, a detail that fueled concerns about transparency around one of the county’s most important assets. County leaders have pressed for a clear public process, while residents have been left trying to understand whether the hospital is being preserved, transferred, or repurposed.

What happens in court will matter beyond this one facility. If Harman succeeds, the case could strengthen the argument that historic deed restrictions still control the use of critical community property in West Virginia, especially in rural counties that do not have another hospital nearby. But even a favorable ruling would not settle every question around reopening, management, financing, or state approval. Those issues now sit alongside the deed fight, and they will help determine whether Welch Community Hospital remains a public-serving institution in more than name alone.