Dear fellow residents,
Zell Hospital:
The operator of the current Mittelmosel Clinic, Katharina Kaspar Via Salus GmbH, Dernbach, intends to cease inpatient operations at Zell Hospital on June 30, 2025.
In its resolution of 14.8.2024, the Zell Municipal Council and the Zell Town Council called on all those responsible at the responsible body, politicians and cost bearers to develop a strategy for the preservation of the Mittelmosel Clinic and to campaign for its preservation.
At its meeting on 01.10.2024, the town council passed the following resolution
“The town council of Zell (Mosel) calls on the district of Cochem-Zell as well as the Ministry of Health, the health insurance funds and the Association of Statutory Health Insurance Physicians to further examine the possibilities of a joint care concept on the basis of objective analyses and including alternative inpatient concepts and pilot projects (formation of focal points of inpatient emergency care), taking into account the possibility that the Cochem site cannot be operated economically in the long term, in accordance with the guarantee mandate pursuant to Section 2 of the State Hospital Act.”
It was further resolved:
“...At the same time, the administration is authorized to commission a legal review of possible claims for securing medical care together with the municipality of Zell in the further proceedings.
In addition, the town council of Zell (Mosel) emphatically demands the preservation and safeguarding of medical (emergency) care for the catchment area of the Mittelmoselklinik.”
With reference to the authorization for legal review, the town and municipality of Zell contacted the lawyer Prof. Dr. Michael Quaas from the law firm Quaas & Partner mbB in Stuttgart, who specializes in medical law.
The latter has submitted an offer to prepare a legal opinion on the intended closure of the hospital in Zell.
According to Prof. Dr. Quaas, due to the extraordinary complexity of the matter, he assumes that the examination will take 6 weeks.
After detailed consultation, the Zell (Mosel) town council decides to commission the law firm Quaas & Partner mbB, Stuttgart, to prepare a legal opinion on the following questions:
a) Is the removal of the Zell (Mosel) hospital from the hospital plan of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate lawful and would this have required, from a legal perspective, the implementation of a procedure to remove the Zell (Mosel) hospital from the hospital plan of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
b) Is the Zell (Mosel) hospital “indispensable” in the sense that its removal from the Rhineland-Palatinate hospital plan may have consequences for the guarantee mandate of the district of Cochem-Zell.
c) In the event of a positive answer from the client's point of view, can individual rights of action of a resident or the affected municipalities be derived from the above questions and how are their chances of success in court to be assessed?
Can claims for retransfer or an obligation to continue the intended purpose of the land - operation of a hospital - be derived and/or asserted from the free transfer of the municipal land to the former “Genossenschaft der armen Dienstmägde Jesu Christi” - from which the current owner, Katharina Kasper ViaSalus GmbH, Dernbach, emerged?
e) What possibilities could there be to contest the dismissals issued by the hospital's owner to all employees for the purpose of closing the hospital on June 30, 2025, even though the hospital is still included in the hospital plan of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate as a primary care hospital at that time?
The decision was taken unanimously by the parliamentary groups in the city council. In the meantime, the law firm Quaas & Partner has been commissioned to prepare the report. We will come back to this in due course.
The town of Zell (Mosel) is the client for the preparation of the report. The municipality of Zell decided on February 5, 2025 in the main committee to contribute to the costs of the report.
Referendum
The preparation of this report is independent of the referendum. In the referendum, the voter decides directly whether to answer the question posed with “YES” or “NO”. If the referendum is successful, it directly replaces a district council resolution.
Bundestag election
Voters have now received the “election notifications” for both the referendum and the Bundestag election. Please exercise your right to vote in both the referendum and the Bundestag election. If you would like to vote by post, please remember that the election letter must be sent in good time and must be received by the local polling station for the referendum on Sunday and by the municipal administration of Zell (Mosel) for the Bundestag election. Election letters received later will not be included in the election results.
I wish you a pleasant week
Your mayor
Hans-Peter Döpgen