Erie County, in a petition before New York State Supreme Court, has asked the state to close Buffalo General Hospital or Erie County Medical Center, the latest of legal maneuvers involving the region's hospital consolidation.

The action, filed on Tuesday by County Attorney Cheryl Green, would enforce a mandate by the Commission on Health Facilities in the 21st Century, or Berger Commission, that would call on the state Department of Health to shutter one of the facilities if the hospitals couldn't come to a merger agreement by Dec. 31, 2007.

That deadline passed.

"The health department failed to keep that incentive on the table, and now we have this half-baked solution," said Grant Loomis, spokesman for Erie County Executive Chris Collins.

ECMC later left the consolidation talks until a memorandum of understanding could be reached unanimously. In April, it filed a lawsuit to interrupt some of the details of the merger.

Meanwhile, the Health Department has submitted proposed legislation that would remove much of Erie County's financial and administrative responsibilities from the medical center's operations while maintaining ECMC's status as a public-benefit corporation.