Letter campaign a waste of time

A recent effort by Lee Memorial Health System to gain state approval to build a new hospital in South Lee County generated 2,200 letters in support of the project.

Elected officials, community groups and area residents put pen to paper to support the project, which proposed a new 80-bed facility in the fast-growing South Lee County area of Estero.

Some of those were form letters generated by community organizers lobbying for the new hospital.

Save your postage stamps, an administrative law judge says.

A community's desire for a new hospital doesn't mean there's a real need for a new hospital, wrote Administrative Law Judge Elizabeth McArthur. She recommended that the state reject Lee Memorial's plan for the new hospital, despite the support from residents and politicians.

So what of all those letters in support of the project?

They weren't admitted in an appeal to overturn the state's decision, but McArthur noted that none provided any evidence that residents of South Lee County had suffered ill health because of the lack of a hospital in that area.