Ode to St. Elsewhere

Jennifer Jones writes a good article in the DDT on hospital overload. Take time to look at it see the underlying implications on the future of healthcare in Greenville. Also, I know I'm not on any drugs, but my copy of the "DRMC Update to the Greater Delta Community" on the back page of the front section sure is. I really did try to read the letter from CEO Humphreys but has to give up. Will David Lush have to take over the quality control role at the DDT too? Puhleeez, someone had to know it was unreadable.

Anyhow, I'm straying from Ms. Jones comments. Having been involved in a few mergers. there is this thing called "due dilligence." Apparently none of that was ever done with this merger. KDH apparently called up DRMC one day and said "Do you want to buy a hospital?". DRMC apparently responded with "Yeah, I guess so." I think the gist of Mr. Humphrey's letter is to make excuses for merger related screw ups and "unforeseen circumstances." Excuse me, did we just have an outbreak of Bubonic Plague? Patient care should never be compromised in a hospital setting if it is anything less than a dire emergency like a natural disaster where hundreds of people flood a hospital needing emergency medical attention.

If the current DRMC management cannot handle the patient load of two hospitals, how will it manage three? I think Ms. Jones makes an excellent observation in asking do we really need three hospitals? I think DRMC has blinders on to kill the Burn Center and build a new hospital south of town. I think the focus is somewhere other than on the patient. That's a shot at the administration and politicians, not the DRMC employees, medical and non-medical.

It's kind of like Bush's Iraq plan. We're making progress, but if you don't know where you're going any plan will take you there.