Since its sale to the for-profit HCA Healthcare seven years ago, Mission Hospital has been beset by complaints about declining care. North Carolina Governor Josh Stein passed the reins of the lawsuit he initiated against HCA to Attorney General Jeff Jackson (right). The agreement, HCA argued, was “silent as to the quantity or quality of services required.” In emails from August 2018, Paulus outlined the thinking of the Mission Hospital board members to Charles J. “They will ask me to personally reassure them that ‘this protects Mission Hospital as we know it,’” Paulus said of the sale.