By Associated Press
Birmingham, AL – The bankrupt century-old Carraway Methodist Medical Center in Birmingham goes on the auction block Tuesday. But the bidding will go on behind closed law office doors. The bidders will confer with their attorneys in separate rooms to decide whether to increase offers. The hospital, which has been for sale for six years, has a court-approved initial bid from Arizona-based Doctors Community Healthcare, a small for-profit firm that takes on distressed hospitals in low-income urban areas. On Wednesday, a federal bankruptcy judge will hear the case to grant the nonprofit hospital to the highest and best bidder. Carraway filed for bankruptcy protection on September 18th. The Chapter 11 reorganization allows the hospital board to keep the hospital open and sell it for less than its 144 (m) million dollar debt. The sale would release Carraway's new owner from most of that burden.