Mayor Muriel Bowser’s attempt to stop the only hospital in Northeast D.C. from shutting down many of its services has hit a major roadblock. A judge denied the D.C. government’s request today for an injunction that would have immediately prevented Providence Hospital from shuttering its acute care services.

Back in July, Providence’s parent company Ascension announced it would shut down most of the hospital’s services, in particular those that address severe or urgent medical conditions, including surgery.

After backlash from surrounding communities and pressure from the city, the hospital agreed to keep its emergency room services—and some other services meant to support the ER—in operation until April 2019. But it still planned to shut down many of its other acute care services, which the hospital has said is necessary because of serious financial problems. The city filed suit against Providence almost a week ago to try to stop that from happening.

“The whole entire area of Northeast Washington will no longer have a totally functioning hospital … which is very dangerous for the community,” Wanda Shelton-Martin, a union representative for the medical technicians at Providence, said at Thursday’s hearing.

In its lawsuit, the city argued that the hospital didn’t get the required permission from the city to shut down so many of its services, and that it was violating its operating license.

The judge Thursday rejected a request for an immediate—and temporary—halt to Providence’s shutdown. The court has yet to rule on the merits of the actual lawsuit.

“While we are disappointed in the Court’s ruling today on the Temporary Restraining Order, the District still has a viable complaint pending in the courts,” Jay Melder, Chief of Staff to the Deputy Mayor of Health and Human Services, said in an email statement. “We will continue the fight and are pursuing all options, inside and outside the courtroom, to protect patient access to safe and reliable healthcare services at Providence Hospital.”

The National Nurses Organizing Committee said in a statement that it “strongly believe[s] the court’s decision will make healthcare disparity in the nation’s capital worse, particularly for the elderly, the poor, and communities of color.” Nurses have been fighting to keep the hospital open with all its services intact since this summer.

“We are pleased with today’s ruling. We remain committed to reimagining healthcare at Providence that genuinely meets the needs of the community, as we have said many times.,” Ascension said in a statement after the ruling. The company pointed out that the hospital is keeping primary care services and outpatient behavioral health services open.

Judge Geoffrey M. Alprin said that city officials waited too long to try to intervene in the hospital’s closure, and that it didn’t clearly communicate to the hospital that it would fight the closure in court. “They knew [the closure] was coming, and it came,” the judge said.

Meg Anderson contributed reporting.