An Unbiased Opinion | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's Note: This commentary originated as comments presented to the Beaufort County Commissioners at the last public hearing on the sale of the Beaufort County Medical Center to UHS.

    When something looks too good to be true, or if it smells fishy, you can bet that it is!

    It is obvious that the Commissioners' approval of a takeover of the hospital by University Health would be a popular decision. Before jumping into the "paradise" described by the UHS supporters, let's step back and see how we've reached this point.

    The hospital financial situation has deteriorated drastically over the past few years. Beginning with a change in the Commissioner's representative on the board, a number of key personnel changes took place. Several top executives resigned, the Chairman of the Hospital Board stepped down and the Chief of Staff left. How all of this is connected still remains to be seen.

    The Hospital Board developed an RFP that was sent to a number of potential suitors. Only four responded, two with viable proposals, and two that were easily discounted. The top two bids were made by Community Health, a large, successful, private for-profit company in Tennessee; and University Health, a smaller, also private, but not-for profit group in Pitt County.

    With help from an experienced consultant, the Board began a fair and unbiased evaluation of the proposals. Almost immediately a series of events took place undermining their efforts:

    Two County Commissioners announced support for UHS even before the bids were in; a local newspaper began publishing editorials in favor of UHS, encouraging the Board to accept their proposal even before its terms were made known;

    The appearance of the SEIU at hospital meetings, public hearings and various civic groups was to say the least, disturbing as they do not represent the employees of the Medical Center, and from their activities it appeared that their sole mission was to sway public opinion against CHS with whom they've had a history of labor-management issues.

    The decision of the medical staff to support UHS was unsettling. I for one find it strange when a group of professionals agrees on anything unanimously, and like many other members of the community, I was disappointed to hear some of them threaten to resign if their recommendation was not followed.

    A small percentage of hospital employees attempted to pose as the majority voice of Beaufort County. They monopolized public hearings, delivering well orchestrated testimony, disrupted meetings with sophomoric chanting, cheering during what were supposed to be serious business negotiations.

    Persons unknown contacted Community Health and LHP, alleging they were not welcome in Beaufort County. Some of these calls were abusive in nature, and eventually the situation reached the point where both organizations were forced to withdraw their bids out of concern for the safety of their personnel. No doubt the tragic events in Tucson weighed on these companies as they received threats and attempts at intimidation. Their letters of withdrawal are proof positive of the obstacles they faced. Additional fallout from the violence in Arizona surfaced when several of our elected leaders had to request protection by law enforcement officers out of fear for your own personal safety.

    After careful evaluation, the Board selected CHS as their choice to operate the Medical Center for the next thirty years. Rather than accepting the decision of the duly constituted authority, supporters of UHS encouraged a lawsuit brought against the County, attempting to block approval of the contract. At that point CHS and ultimately even LHP had enough, withdrawing rather than continuing their involvement with this "fishy" chain of coincidences.

    Rather than rushing headlong into signing away the most important facility in the County while multiple clouds of unanswered questions hang over the process, our Commissioners need to insure there will always be a hospital in Beaufort County, and it will not be closed arbitrarily someday through manipulation of the CON or the whims of hospital executives not beholden to the citizens of Beaufort County.