STILL NO ANSWERS BUT MORE QUESTIONS

Friends, I am going to hound the hospital and its acquirer.  They aren’t talking to the few people in the region who have the temerity to ask the questions. They say that, because I “blasted” them, they won’t be talking to me.

I didn’t “blast” them; I simply asked some questions about how the acquisition of Lehigh Valley Health Network by Jefferson will improve the health of our residents. We’re Americans. Our rules are designed to make developments like this one open to scrutiny. It’s called “freedom of speech” and “freedom of the press” and they are engrained in our Constitution, one of the greatest documents ever written.

We should be suspicious when a nonprofit that exists for the purpose of improving the quality of life believes it is above scrutiny. Alarmed might be a better word.

So, who are these people? Good question. I’ve gone to LVHN’s  website in search of that very basic information a few times in the last few month and each time I did the LVHN roster of trustees was different. The one I am looking at now has just 15 members to oversee their billion-dollar-plus budget. But look where those 15 people who will help decide who will live and who will die:

They appear to all be white. And it’s probably safe to assume none are poor. Then there is the question of conflict. It appears to me that seven of the 15 trustees work for the network or have some other close affiliation! They are just one trustee short of a controlling interest in the network.  Seriously?! They vote on their own salaries, what units will survive, whether to contribute to a pension fund, who gets what new equipment and who gets the corner office. I have served on several boards and I have never seen that.

I wonder what else I don’t know.