Conor Berry, Springfield Republican, August 27, 2011 Northampton - After contract negotiations between nurses and management at Cooley Dickinson Hospital reached an impasse Thursday, hospital administrators announced they would seek a mediator to help resolve a dispute over nurses' retirement benefits and a so-called successor clause to maintain contract terms if the hospital merges with a larger organization. A merger appears all but inevitable for the financially burdened hospital, which is actively holding discussions with Springfield's Baystate Health and Boston's Massachusetts General Hospital, among other prominent health care organizations. ... Breakdown