Let's Get the Story Straight | 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.

    Those who complied with N C General Statute 131E-13 are to be commended. They likely prevented a challenge to the contract with UHS being brought. Those who tried to circumvent the law would have landed us in court.

    Also, those who worked to protect the interests of the citizens and taxpayers of Beaufort County by supporting a competitive bidding process are to be commended and thanked. Hood Richardson, more than any other single person, protected this bidding process as much as he could and deserves the gratitude of every taxpayer of this county. The small, but loud minority group who sabotaged the competitive bidding process did not serve the interests- healthcare or otherwise- of our 45,000 citizens and should be ashamed of themselves.

    It is obvious that having competitive bidders resulted in a better deal while sabotage resulted in the loss of more than 50 million dollars if UHS exercises its option to purchase at the end of 30 years. It is highly unlikely that 10 million dollars will be anywhere near a fair price in 2041. We will make our grandchildren pay.

    And we already have a problem. Financial information about the final UHS proposal has been withheld from the public. In UHS's Letter of Intent the Confidentiality Agreement should be replaced with a contractual provision that the Public Records and Open Meetings laws will be adhered to by the health system.

    How did we get into such a predicament? Please conduct a comprehensive assessment of what caused this debacle and develop policies to prevent such a thing from occurring again in any other county services.

    We the people have a right to know how the hospital got into such bad financial shape without the commissioners and the public being aware before it was too late to try to correct it. Have there been any criminal, fraudulent, or tortious actions involved in bringing the health system to the point we are today? It is clear that the embezzlement in the Foundation was just the tip of the iceberg. An inadequate management and over site system allowed that to happen. Those systems failed us. We the people have a right to know specifically where the negligence was and if there was illegal or tortious behavior and by whom. It is necessary for you to discover the TRUTH and make that public in order for us to deal in fact rather than in unsubstantiated charges and counter charges in the 2012 election. Full disclosure is essential to prevent such a catastrophe happening again in Beaufort County.