Prime Healthcare founder defends decision not to buy 6 struggling Catholic hospitals

The founder of Prime Healthcare Services Inc. defended his decision to pull out of a deal to buy six Catholic hospitals, saying critics were wrong to suggest that he placed profit over patients. "It's the most callous and irresponsible statement," said Prem Reddy, a cardiologist who founded the Ontario-based hospital chain in 2001. "It has nothing to do with profits." For more than a year, Reddy and other executives at Prime had worked on the deal with Daughters of Charity Health System, which owns the six financially struggling hospitals, including two in L.A. County.