Health center deal urged in Connecticut

The University of Connecticut Health Center needs a modern teaching hospital to replace the outdated John Dempsey Hospital on its Farmington campus if it is to survive, according to a report from the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering. The Academy is recommending that Dempsey should be closed, and UConn should collaborate with one or more of the hospitals that now compete for patients to create a new medical complex on the health center grounds. The study was commissioned by the state legislature after UConn officials proposed building a new 352-bed, state-run hospital in Farmington to replace the John Dempsey.