PCH board questions Sam merger. (Phoenix Children's Hospital; Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center)

Allegations of gross mismanagement in the construction department of Samaritan Health System has board members of an affiliated hospital reconsidering its association.

In the wake of the allegations, board members of Phoenix Children's Hospital are questioning their proposed consolidation with Samaritan.

The specialty children's hospital has leased space at Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center since its inception in 1983, and now company officials are negotiating a consolidation. Officials at both hospitals were scheduled to present the proposed merger to their respective boards by the end of this month.

But the allegations against Samaritan - first brought by the hospital's own auditors and leading to subsequent investigations by the …