We’ve posted a critical update featured by FloridaPolitics.com dated 4/29/25 titled: 

“Failed hospital “merger” deserves referendum, not legislative loophole”

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We’ve just posted a critical update dated April 5, 2025 titled:

“Shane Strum Must Go — Morale at Memorial Is Shattered”

This update includes the full message from a concerned Memorial employee that was sent to the Governor, legislators, and the press. It details the truth behind Memorial’s internal crisis, the failure of leadership, and the growing fear and frustration among staff. If you care about the future of Memorial, scroll down or click on the “1 Update” link above and read the full update now.

You can sign this petition and remain confidential. Your name does not have to be displayed. What matters is your voice.

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To: Memorial Healthcare System Board of Commissioners, Florida House and Senate Legislators, Interim CEO Shane Strum, Members of the Press

We, the undersigned employees, physicians, patients, and community members, strongly oppose Florida House Bill 1253 and Senate Bill 1518, which may grant Memorial Healthcare System and Broward Health broad authority to merge, restructure, eliminate jobs, and privatize services—without antitrust oversight or public accountability.

These bills state that hospital systems may act “regardless of the competitive consequences,” which could strip away legal protections that currently help safeguard patients, employees, and our community from monopolistic control and unchecked power.

We are already seeing what this future may look like:

• Dedicated employees have been eliminated—without cause.

• Hardworking employees have been demoted—without explanation.

• Departments have been dismantled—behind closed doors.

• Respected leaders have disappeared—quietly.

• Staff and physicians have been excluded entirely from these decisions.

Shane Strum, Board Members, and MHS HR leadership have already begun dismantling Memorial from the inside—and these bills may give them the legal freedom to continue without consequence.

I am writing to you anonymously on behalf of many concerned employees at Memorial Healthcare System.

We are physicians, nurses, techs, leaders, schedulers, therapists, billers, and more. And right now—we are scared.

Recently, 66 people were told their jobs were eliminated. There was no warning. No conversation. These were individuals who served patients with heart and integrity—gone overnight.

An additional 32 employees have been demoted and given pay cuts. Quietly. Strategically. Without transparent explanations.

This is not an isolated event.

Over the past few months, we have watched positions disappear, respected leaders quietly exit, and departments undergo restructuring with minimal or no communication.

We are witnessing the gradual dismantling of a system we helped build.

Now, we may be facing something even more far-reaching.

HB 1253 / SB 1518, currently moving through the Florida Legislature, may give Memorial Healthcare System and Broward Health the power to merge, acquire, and restructure operations without antitrust review or public input.

The bills propose that health systems may act “regardless of the competitive consequences,” which could eliminate safeguards designed to protect patients, employees, and communities from unchecked consolidation and decision-making.

We are already feeling what this kind of unchecked authority looks like.

We were told by leadership that these eliminations were part of a “restructuring.” If these bills pass, that may become permanent authority—and could allow similar actions to occur more frequently, with even less accountability.

If HB 1253 / SB 1518 passes, the consequences may extend beyond employees—patients could feel the impact as well.

The bills may allow Memorial and Broward Health to eliminate, merge, or privatize services without public oversight. That could mean:

• Fewer choices

• Longer wait times

• Reduced access to specialists and programs patients rely on

Clinics could close. Procedures may be outsourced. Services that aren’t deemed “profitable” may quietly disappear. The safety net our community relies on—especially seniors, low-income families, and the uninsured—may shrink or vanish altogether.

This legislation could transform a public healthcare system into a corporate machine, where patient care becomes secondary to financial strategy.

Physicians will not be spared from the consequences.

If HB 1253 / SB 1518 passes, executive leadership may gain the power to restructure departments, change contracts, consolidate service lines, and shift clinical decision-making—without input from medical staff.

Memorial has already eliminated the systemwide Chief Medical Officer—the very leader responsible for representing physicians and ensuring clinical quality. Entire specialties could be outsourced or absorbed. Contracts may be rewritten without negotiation. Physician autonomy and influence over patient care may be significantly reduced.

Physicians who have dedicated decades to Memorial may find themselves cut out of decisions that directly affect their practice, their patients, and their professional future.

This appears to be a hostile takeover of public healthcare by a small circle of executives and board members—individuals who do not walk our halls daily, who do not comfort patients, and who did not ask for our input.

To those reading this petition—this is your call to action.

We know many of us feel powerless. But we are not.

We built Memorial. Not Shane Strum. Not the Board. WE BUILT MEMORIAL.

We demand the following:

1. Immediate withdrawal of support for HB 1253 / SB 1518

2. A moratorium on further job eliminations, demotions, or restructuring

3. Transparency, communication, and frontline involvement in all strategic decisions

4. A public forum with Memorial Healthcare System leadership and Board of Commissioners, where employees can speak without fear of retaliation

5. Protection of Memorial’s status as a public healthcare system—not a private corporation in disguise

Sign the petition today.

Your name can remain hidden by using your INITIALS and OPT-OUT of sharing your name. What matters is your voice.

Then share it—safely: With coworkers you trust. With family. With patients.

We need hundreds—thousands—to make them listen.

To the Board of Commissioners and Legislative Sponsors:

We respectfully urge you to pause this legislation immediately.

Do not erase the voices of the people who make these hospitals run.

Do not dismantle the public foundation we have spent decades building.

Sincerely,

Code Gray, MHS Insider, Writing on Behalf of Many