Norwood Hospital was done in by inadequate state regulations. Here is the fix.
Sponsored by The Boston Foundation The Best of CommonWealth Beacon OPINION (Photo via Canva) Norwood Hospital was done in by inadequate state regulations. Here is the fix. May 10, 2026 By Meredith McGee For the second time in two years, Massachusetts is considering whether it needs to seize hospital land by force just to get a community its health care back. In February, state legislators held a hearing on taking the Norwood Hospital property by eminent domain, the same tool the state used at St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center in Brighton at a cost of $66 million to taxpayers. For Norwood, six years into a flood-related closure that never had to happen, it remains the only option available. That fact alone should tell us something is broken. Not because eminent domain is the wrong call for Norwood, but because a state that regulates its utilities, its transit systems, and its energy grid with layers of intermediate oversight has no equivalent to...