Physicians, hospitals should work together

Eastern Maine Medical Center is a publicly owned institution dedicated to the restoration and preservation of the health of the sick and injured people in our service area. The public is represented by several hundred corporators who annually elect a board of trustees that governs the hospital.

Over the years there have been many dedicated, devoted and hard-working men and women who have served as trustees without financial recompense. The board makes governance decisions based on the information available to its members. Concern has developed that there may be a possibility that only one side of the debatable and controversial issues reaches the members of the board with important relevant facts somehow withheld.

Since the hospital was established in 1892, to our knowledge there has never been a formal, forced removal of a trustee from the board until now. Dr.

Theodore Silver and his colleagues at Northeast Cardiology Associates have saved and prolonged the useful lives of thousands of heart patients. They have developed a widely recognized, superb cardiac care program, with outreach programs in northern and eastern Maine that have played a significant role in EMMC becoming a Tertiary Care Facility. In recognition of this devotion to hospital and patient care, Eastern Maine Healthcare (EMH), the parent institution of EMMC, presented its annual Distinguished Service Award to Silver “in recognition of outstanding service and dedication.” In addition to his medical accomplishments, Silver has served on the board of trustees for 10 years, as both a medical staff representative and as an elected member of the community.

Despite this remarkable and enviable background, at a meeting on Oct. 12 EMH’s board of directors voted to force Silver from the board of trustees of EMMC, because of a supposed “unmanageable conflict of interest.” The corporators, the public and the owners of the hospital have a right to know what transpires at their institution to warrant this radical departure from tradition.

In addition to the current concern, there are many questions that need to be raised and considered. There may well be other hospital board members with significant conflicts of interest. Why single out Silver for draconian treatment? Is there self-perpetuation of hospital board members? Is there a lack of broad representation of citizens on the hospital boards? Are grandiose plans for the future and lavish spending of finances a factor here? Why has EMMC lost some of its best physicians and nurses to the detriment of the hospital and medical care?

In these critical and challenging times, it is crucial that physicians and hospitals work together openly and cooperatively for the primary objective that should never be lost sight of – namely the good of the patients they serve.

This commentary was signed by Thomas H. Palmer, M.D., Bangor; Hadley Parrot, M.D., Hancock; Don L. Maunz, M.D., Bangor and South Bristol; Warren G. Strout, M.D., Orono; and George W. Wood III, M.D., Orono.