Carlyle's LifeCare Finally Bankrupt

The Carlyle Group's LifeCare Hospitals officially declared bankruptcy, after a several month implosion.  Bloomberg reported:

The company, which was acquired by private equity firm Carlyle Group LP in 2005, said it has agreed to be bought by a group of its senior secured lenders, but hopes to see what results from an auction supervised by the bankruptcy court.

Carlyle closed on LifeCare weeks before Hurricane Katrina struck, filling New Orleans with toxic gumbo.  LifeCare Hospital had the largest number of patient deaths, 25 from Katrina.  This fact was omitted from the Bush White House Lesson Learned report.  The author, Frances Townsend, continues to ascend in the political and corporate stratosphere.

LifeCare makes a dozen Carlyle bankruptcies since early 2008.  The list includes:

Carlyle Capital Corporation
BlueWave Partners
SemGroup
Hawaiian Telecom
Edscha
IMO Carwash
Stallion Oilfield Services
Verari Systems
Willcom
Oriental Trading
Church Street Health Management 
LifeCare Holdings

Carlyle's latest bankruptcies are in the health arena, dental and long term acute care.  Both deals had plenty of time for Carlyle to show their operating capabilities.  Each imploded under the heavy weight of debt.

Here's how Carlyle sold the bankruptcy:

LCI Holdco, LLC. (the Company), parent company of LifeCare Holdings, Inc., has reached an agreement to be acquired by Hospital Acquisition LLC, an acquisition vehicle owned by LifeCare's senior secured lenders. The transaction will strengthen the Company's financial health and allow future growth of LifeCare’s business.

The PEU model is proposed as the salvation of health care.  If that's the case, the medicine may be worse than the disease.

The main case is In re LCI Holding Co. Inc., 12-13319, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware (Wilmington).