Editorial: Confronting a setback

Friday, July 8, 2005 | 9:08 a.m.

A month ago we wrote that building a new medical center for Union Park in downtown Las Vegas wouldn't come together easily. One of the major stumbling blocks is exactly who would pay to build a medical center that the University of Pittsburgh has proposed operating in partnership with the University of Nevada School of Medicine. Last week the chancellor of Nevada's university system, Jim Rogers, said that the plan for a Las Vegas medical center called for $250 million from local sources and $150 million from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

Well, it seems that the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center isn't on board with contributing money to building a facility in Las Vegas after all, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported this week. Adding to the uncertainty, the vice dean of the University of Nevada School of Medicine, Dr. Jim Lenhart, said the sharing of costs to build a Las Vegas center was a "suggestion and never fully discussed" by the Pittsburgh and Nevada officials. Lenhart told the Las Vegas Sun that the University of Pittsburgh's comments don't mean that there will be an end to the negotiations, however.

It is discouraging that on such an essential element of the negotiations -- how much each side is willing to pay to build the center -- that there is so much confusion. Nevertheless, discussions should continue with the University of Pittsburgh. At the same time, however, local officials should talk with other medical centers as well to see if there is interest elsewhere in taking on this project. We believe that such a medical institution -- one that conducts research, organ transplants and general health care -- would be worthwhile. Hopefully, efforts to secure a medical center will withstand the inevitable setbacks that will occur in what often will seem a daunting venture.