Chicago Hospital’s Closure: A Canary In The Coal Mine For Corporatized Health
Predictably, Weiss Memorial Hospital, which has served the diverse and vulnerable populations of the northside Chicago neighborhood of Uptown for decades, closed its doors on August 8, 2025. Weiss Memorial Hospital was the first (and only) community safety-net hospital (a hospital whose stated mission is to serve low-income communities) in this neighborhood. The hospital closed despite impassioned pleas by several residents such as Phong Nguyen, a Vietnamese refugee and war veteran who has lived in Uptown and used Weiss Memorial for 50 years. As he told WBEZ, “I am over 80 years old this year. Not just my generation, but generations following myself still rely on this hospital for critical services; [Weiss is] a hospital that allows us to stay in the area and maintain the quality of life that we deserve.”