Libelous Advertisement and St. Mary's Response!
A friend got me a copy of the infamous advertisement put out by the Smithmier propaganda machine and the response from St. Mary's. I find it interesting that the head of the Macon County Medical Society, Michael Zia MD, is also a high-level administrator with DMH!!
I wonder how far the complaint actually went with the Illinois State Medical Society.
From what I've read online, hospitals generally follow the same process in giving doctors permission to work at their hospital. And, from what my friend says, the process is almost identical at both hospitals, with one major difference. Dr. Zia has made it clear that the only way a doctor can get privileges at DMH is if they go through HIM. So, in other words, if the doctors don't want to play ball the DMH way, they might not get to play at all.
And, from what the tax returns say, the ones that do play ball get overpaid by millions.
I have a question, though. Can you still write checks from Federal Prison?
We will certainly find out.
I wonder how far the complaint actually went with the Illinois State Medical Society.
From what I've read online, hospitals generally follow the same process in giving doctors permission to work at their hospital. And, from what my friend says, the process is almost identical at both hospitals, with one major difference. Dr. Zia has made it clear that the only way a doctor can get privileges at DMH is if they go through HIM. So, in other words, if the doctors don't want to play ball the DMH way, they might not get to play at all.
And, from what the tax returns say, the ones that do play ball get overpaid by millions.
I have a question, though. Can you still write checks from Federal Prison?
We will certainly find out.
posted by Watcher2300 at 6/16/2009 11:52:00 AM
34 Comments:
Many doctors who used to limit their practice to DMH are now accepting patients at St. Mary's too while still accepting patients at DMH. Does this mean that they are not as good doctors as they were 1 year ago or that they finally had enough of Smithmier's strong arm tactics? Could it be that they were losing patients (and income) because patients finally realized they DID have a choice in which hospital to go to? I bet it is the 2nd choice.
I have lost all respect for Dr. Zia. His father worked in the kitchen at St. Mary's for years to earn the money to put his son through medical school. St. Mary's provided a standard of quality of care that was good enough for Dr. Zia to practice there for years until Smithmier came along and made him an offer that he could not refuse. All of a sudden actually taking care of patients at the bedside was not good enough or lucrative enough for Dr. Zia and he jumped ship and joined DMH administration and made his pact with the devil. Shame on Dr. Zia.
Thank goodness for your blog, Watcher. Without it many citizens in Decatur would not realize that they have a choice in hospitals.
Now it is time for the Feds, State, Illinois State Medical Society and all others with authority to finally step up to the plate and make the guilty parties pay for their crimes.
The ad placed by DMH is a joke among DMH employees. I am an RN there and many of my fellow RN's can name several doctors on the DMH staff who have no business treating patients anywhere. They do not answer pages, they ignore RN's reports of critical changes in a patient's condition, they write totally inappropriate orders, fail to make consults to specialists when needed, verbally abuse RN's who have the nerve to call them to clarify orders, and in many other ways fail to provide the care their patients expect, desrve, and pay for.
If this is Dr. Zia's idea of quality care, he needs a refresher course in medicine, ethics, and the Hippocratic oath.
What about JACHO and the AMA? Do they not have any authority to impose sanctions against the guilty MD's and the hospital? Does the AMA only have power over doctors who have actually paid dues to the AMA?
Does JACHO care only about whether the floors are clean in a hospital and how long it takes a nurse to answer a patient call light or do they also look into the practices of administrators?
If DMH lost its JACHO certification it would be a major blow to DMH. It is my understanding that without JACHO accredidation a hospital cannot receive Medicare or Medicaid payments,but I may be wrong about that.
How does Ken explain Pusca who was NEVER suspended despite several cardiac bypasses that lasted SO LONG that anesthesia changed shifts during the surgeries? How does he explain all of that fabulous doctor's patients who ended up in vent centers, nursing homes, or the grave? Does DMH even have a cardiac surgeon who lives HERE? Pusca's on his way out, but he's been gone from the DMH website and DMH advertising for at LEAST 6 months. Just hide the bad. And what ever happened to Weber's high touted bariatric surgery program? That sure disappeared fast. Was he ever sanctioned? No...because he plays ball. What about the hospitalists? Anyone of them fellowship trained in the specialty? Do you think they'll take the new board certification exams for hospitalists? Doubt it. What about the on-call surgeons who don't respond to trauma calls and the patients who bleed to death in the OR? Do they get peer reviewed and sanctioned? No...Locke and his quality assurance committee is just a hammer the hospital uses to drive qualified doctors who won't succumb to the slimy DMH way of doing things out of town. Fortunately, that's not working any more. Thank GOD for St. Mary's and the wonderful effort that has gone into saving medicine for the people of Decatur. Now qualified doctors can tell DMH to go whistle Dixie without uprooting their families, rebuilding their practices elsewhere or having their careers permanently damaged by the so-called "monitors." How many non-specialists at DMH have a "special interest" -- verses fellowship training and board certification -- in specialties. It's really ashame what this administration has done to the hospital and to the many fine, qualified people who work there. I really hope the Feds haven't lost interest...or have been bought off. Smithmier and his crew belong in prison.
If Dr. Zia's idea of "only the best physicians" is the medical staff DMH has now, I have a challenge for him.
Get one of your friends who is having chest pain to dress up in work clothes. No suits allowed. Send that friend to DMH ER and do not allow him to mention that he is a friend of yours. Chances are your friend will be diagnosed with indigestion and sent home. That has happened to 2 of my friends in the last couple of years and both were dead within 24 hours from "massive MI's". Another friend fell out of a tree while trimming limbs and went to DMH ER complaining of severe abdominal pain. No xrays were taken by DMH and he was sent home after being told he probably had a fractured rib. Several hours later he was still in severe pain and went to St. Mary's ER, diagnosed with a ruptured spleen and was rushed to surgery at St. Mary's to have his spleen removed. The doctors at St. Mary's saved his life.
If you value your life stay away from those DMH ER doctors. Apparently peer review and rigorous credentialling at DMH is done by doctors who do not care about patients - only their bank accounts.
As for Weber and the bariatric program seems he is not the God of surgeons he thinks he is. His patients suffered infections and other complications that were way above the national average.
Lets pray that the Illinois State Medical Society, state AMA, the Federal Government and anyone else who has anything at all to do with the health and welfare of patients will do their jobs and make these crooks pay for the crimes they have committed and make sure the people of Decatur get the care they deserve and are paying for.
Wow! Smithmier and the other idiots at DMH must think we are dummies or children who can't think for ourselves. DMH seems more and more desperate everyday. I thought they hit a new low last year when they try to buy the Decatur Celebration, but these latest ads are the lowest yet.
Don't the guys at DMH get it? When they attack our doctors they are attacking us - telling us we don't have the intelligence to make informed choices about who our doctors will be or where we will receive medical care.
Congrats to St. Mary's for taking the high road and not stooping to Smithmier's level.
Interesting.
If DMH is so good why do they have to spend so much money telling us how good they are?
Dr. Rademacher's letter to Smithmier and the Board and others was great. He calmly and rationally spelled out the errors of Smithmier's ad and also pointed out that he basically insulted the physicians of Decatur who ARE on the staff of St. Mary's. Many of those same physicians are on the staffs of both hospitals, so Smithmier and Zia were insulting some of their own physicians.
Was Dr. Rademacher's response ever published in the Herald and Review? Probably not. St. Mary's has too much integrity and class to stoop to Smithmier's level.
Kudos to Dr. Rademacher and St. Mary's for hanging in there even when DMH was playing truly DIRTY POLITICS.
Seems like politics is the name of the game here. Smithmier and friends tried to buy off as many politicians, newspapers, other media, as possible etc., and now it has come back to bite them.
Sad to see a once great institution ruined by Smithmier and greed.
Are the Feds still investigating? Any chance anyone will be made to pay for these crimes?
C'mon folks. Give those poor guys at DMH a break. Smithmier, Stone, Zia, Peacock, Fahey, and Terry Myers (anyone remember that poor sap?) can do no wrong. They walk on water. Unfortunately they cannot swim.
Unfortunately for them people in Decatur are finally realizing DMH has been conning them and stealing money from them and their insurance companies for years. Unfortunately for them the people now realize they can get great care at St. Mary's.
If the gods are good and the planets align right they -DMH- just might get off the hook without paying any fines, losing licenses, and serving jail time.
If the gods are good and the planets align right for the people of Decatur, they (DMH and their doctors) will be nailed by the feds, state, professional organizations and any other group with any power over administrators and also the doctors who are guilty of the many violations of the law they committed.
Smithmier could not have gotten away with all his crimes if the doctors involved had not agreed to his terms.
Bravo to those doctors who had the courage to obey the law and say no to Smithmiers demands and not line their pockets with money stolen from their patients and insurance companies.
Zia's credibility is less than zero now. I am sure this was not his plan when he got into bed with the devil.
Dr. Rademacher is to be admired for his fairly restrained response to the DMH ad. He is a gentleman and moral and ethical doctor. I wish I could have been a fly on the wall when Rademacher, St. Mary's administrators and board members had their meetings about the ad.
Thank goodness for Decatur that we have doctors like Rademacher who put patients first and bank accounts way down on the list.
Now it is time for the federal government to finally step in and put the criminals at DMH in jail where they belong. It would be great if the administrators and guilty doctors were required to pay any fines out of their own pockets.
How sad if they all got to keep they money they stole from patients because they transferred it to wives, children, cousins, friends and the feds can't touch it because of this. Most of them probably have enough money hidden away that even if they lose licenses and can never practice medicine again they or their families can maintain their current standard of living even if they never see another patient again.
I keep getting this mental image of Smithmier and Company and his doctors stuffing money into shoeboxes to hide it from investigators. Seems to be the way things are done in Illinois.
Meanwhile the working people of Decatur struggle to pay bills to DMH and its doctors while they - the people- have trouble putting food on the table and paying their power bills.
Has anyone googled "Kenneth Smithmier" lately? I just did and Soy Town Crier was the 5th result! Even if the feds don't get him, I think it's safe to say he'll have a tough time finding another job. "Cold comfort for change" as the song goes, but thanks Watcher for ensuring that this crook doesn't get a total pass.
I just googled ken smithmier dmh and the first result was a Soytown crier blog "DMH EMPLOYEES ARE NOT HAPPY WITH KEN SMITHMIER" the second result was the Soytown crier.
We can only hope that any head hunters or propespective future employers check more than a written resume by smithmier before hiring him. Would save future hospitals and patients from this bum.
Ken doesn't have to explain Pusca or Weber because he IS KEN SMITHMIER and he doesn't have to answer to anyone. Tim Stone is a joke. He cares more about buildings and landscaping than patient care. By the way, with all the money they make, Stone and Zia should really think about getting new toupees.
The Hospitalists? One is a nephrophologist and one is an oncologist. No hospitalist specialty there. Who does Dr. Mike Zia think he he kidding when he talks about rigorous peer review and credentialling? The people of Decatur aren't buying it any longer.
Linda Fahey needs to be looked at more closely. She is supposed to ensure quality nursing care but is clueless as to what the nurses at DMH actually have to put up with on a daily basis. Saw a new DMH billboard today that said something to the effect that the DMH difference is its nurses (perhaps to take the spotlight off incompetent doctors at DMH?). The difference with DMH nurses is that they are new, inexperienced, understaffed, and trying to learn how to do their jobs without experienced mentors. I feel sorry for them but admire them for trying. Unfortunately, many of them leave DMH within a year, so they are replaced with more inexperienced nurses. The really experienced nursed have either left DMH or left the nursing units to take office jobs.
Question is how is St. Mary's handling the extra patient load?
I hope this tragedy at DMH ends soon and the Feds get in there with an airtight case and put these ciminals in jail and make them pay huge fines.
What's the deal with Chic and its doctors. Isn't CHIC funded with federal and/or state money? I understand they will not see patients at St. Mary's. How can this be if they receive federal or state funds? Does Smithmier have some kind of hold on them too?
From what I've been told, CHIC doctors don't even go to DMH! At one time they had five or six doctors total for adults and children, but now are down to only two or three. Most of the doctors going through there stay for a couple of years, and then leave. Some have stayed in the community, but they don't work for CHIC. AND, with only one exception, NONE of the former CHIC doctors are employed by DMH.
Shame on Dr. Zia! He used to be a nice honest man. I cannot imagine the kind of deal Smithmier offered Zia to make him change so radically.
I was surprised to read the comments about CHIC. It is a much needed service for the medically underserved in Decatur. Who sees their patients if they need to go to the hospital (and many of them need to go often because of their limited access to preventative medical care)?
Does the CHIC PA see all the patients in the hospital or have they been turned over to the hospitalists too?
If the PA still sees them, is this legal? Doesn't an MD have to see you at some point during a hospitalization?
This whole thing with Smithmier, stone, Zia, Fahey, and Peacock is so sad. I cannot imagine how they live with themselves.
If Ken Smithmier and company are indicted, fined, and ultimately have to serve prison time, will DMH remain open? How sad it would be if we lost DMH because of the misdeeds of these unethical people.
Decatur still needs 2 hospitals to serve its citizens and give us a choice in healthcare - just with different leadership at DMH.
What about the board of directors at DMH? Don't they bear some responsibility for what has been happening at DMH?
Is there any way the assets of Smithmier, Stone, Zia, Peacock, Fahey, Meyers, and the involved doctors can be frozen so they can't hide anymore money or do there have to be indicted and convicted for this to happen? What a shame it would be if they are convicted but all their money is gone because they have managed to stash it away and put homes, real estate, and other valuable property in some one elses name.
What good are fines if the feds can't find the money or they have given it all to relatives, friends, or stashed it in offshore aacounts.
I am not sure how to officially submit a comment for the Soy Town Crier to analyze, but I would like to shed light on another crisis on DMH soil. In meetings held today, Smithmier informed employees of prospective changes to payroll and 403b accounts. He informed staff that they could lose up to all of their sick time, up to three of their ETO days, and DMH will no longer be matching the promised 3% of income to their employee's 403b accounts.
My question is this. Why does DMH consistently rob from the people that work their dam asses off to take care of their patients and deliver quality care despite all the political bull with the doctors. I am a former nurse of DMH and it makes me sick. I worked my ass off to deliver the best care and to defend the imperfections of the medical staff, and I am the one penalized by them eliminating my bonus and wage increases and now cutting benefits.
I am sick and tired of DMH spending money to only try to save it other places. Like this new multimillion cafeteria that is being built. I have been told that DMH paid cash for the construction of a cafeteria that was not needed. And now, DMH is making its employees pay for it. I hope that the entrance of the cafeteria has a sign that says "please thank the employees and patients of DMH, as they funded the construction of this cafeteria".
Does anyone else have any insight to this fiasco?
The only insight I need to understand this latest screwing of employees of DMH is that the place is run by Ken Smithmier and Tim Stone.
That sound I hear may be the last of the really experienced employees who are close to retirement age stampeding over to human resources, resignations in hand.
There are many places in Decatur they can work and get much better benefits than at DMH now.
Did Smithmier say anything at his meetings about the sacrifices administration or its doctor employees would be making? Not holding my breath waiting to hear that they have frozen their salaties and most importantly will not be receiving bonuses.
What the heck is Smithmier thinking? Or has he finally gone completely over the edge and is no longer thinking at all about anything but his own bank account?
Morale at DMH is already at record lows. Would love to see the results of his Press Ganey scores for the last year (patient satisfaction scores) since he has laid off so many people with experience and the place was already woefully understaffed before that big round of layoffs. Whos is taking care of the patients these days?
The previous poster states "my question - why does DMH consistently rob from the people who work their asses off to take care of their patients and deliver quality care despite all the political bull with the doctors?"
The only answer I can think of is that no one with any authority has stepped in to correct the mess that is DMH administration these days. Who is on the Board of Directors and don't they have to approve major changes?
I feel sorry for the DMH employees that are left. How can DMH take away all of their sick time, 3 vacation days, and stop making the 3% match to their 403(b) plans without giving them advance notice?
I realize that they are "at will" employees, but surely there is a law somewhere that requires DMH to give advance notification of such major changes.
Smithmier has to cut pay/benefits for the employees (not his royal self) because the King's Castle is under repair/improvement. Has anyone been out around Maroa lately? Huge blue plastic tarp draping most of the back the of Smithmier's manse...maybe an addition is underway to accommodate his ego.
Well, I can only add that the "proposed changes" to the benefits were heard of from a friend that actually went to the meeting. Even at that, I am not sure how DMH and Smithmier think they can do this to employees to begin with. I am a former nurse of DMH, and I have seen my unit scrape by on nurses to complete a shift. Patients don't get good care, and they are the ones that keep the hospital going. That's it.....no patients....no income. Cutting benefits and eliminating bonuses and raises will only drive what nurses they have left to other hospitals. There are units in the hospital hiring in excess of 10 new nurses from the new graduating classes because most of the ones from last year LEFT. SMART OF THEM.
The newest jargon from administration is that they will be taking one week without pay. I say big freaking deal, especially when you look at the salaries posted by the Soy Town Crier in October 2007. You will see that Smithmier, Peacock, Stone, Zia, and Fahey posted salaries almost in excess of 300,000, with raises from the previous year of almost 80,000 in some cases. So, when you received an 80G raise (of wasted money) in a year, will giving up a weeks pay REALLY save DMH that much money? NO! From the looks of it, DMH is paying for administration that really isn't worth shit.
I wouldn't hold my breath for the administration of DMH to do anything to help their employees. I worked there for almost two years and I never saw anybody in upper level management stand up and show any form of sturdy backbone. Voices are not heard at DMH, and if you speak them your job is in jeopardy. Money speaks, and that is how I propose the Board of Directors is persuaded to make the decisions they do.
I only wish the right people saw the information that is out there and did something about it. Unfortunately, unless we do something quick it will be too late. Smithmier will run the hospital in to the ground. I already know people in Decatur that would rather die than go to DMH, and it will only get worse.
IF "money speaks, and that is how the board of directors is persuaded to do the things they do" as the previous poster said, then are they not liable for for the mess that is now DMH?
Dr. Zia and the doctors who signed the pact with the devil have so much to answer for. While Smithmier is ultimately responsible for the crisis at DMH, it would not have happened if the doctors had not agreed to his terms. Seems many of these doctors shot themselves in the foot when they signed their contracts with Smithmier, Zia and DMH. They lost patients who wanted to go to St. Mary's and the income those patients brought in. They also lost respect of many of the other doctors in town and the people of Decatur.
For Dr Zia to imply in that infamous ad that quality care from doctors could be obtained only at DMH was shameful and insulting to other doctors and also the citizens of the area.
DMH administration needs to be cleaned out from top to bottom and new, honest, ethical administrators and a new honest, ethical board of directors need to be brought in order to return DMH to its once proud status (and honest) as a healthcare institution whose mission statement "To improve the health of the people of central Illinois" is the truth.
Have Smithmier, Stone, Peacock, Zia, Fahey, Myers, and the doctors covered their tracks so well that they will get away with destroying a hospital that was once a proud and safe place to receive healthcare?
How much do members of the board of directors make, anyway? I am trying to imagine a sum of money that would make me disregard my sense of right and wrong and rubber stamp anything that Smithmier tossed my way to do things his way.
Regarding taking away sick time of employees at DMH, not such a big loss. As a former employee of DMH I can tell you that we were given 12 sick days a year. They did not carry over from year to year, so it was a "use them or lose them" deal.
However, if you dared use a sick day after being exposed to all sorts of contagious diseases like TB, MRSA, etc., you were given an "occurence" - essentially a black check mark next to your name like when you did something bad in kindergarten. Get 6 occurences in a year (that means using only half your sick days) you could not receive a raise that year.
Talk about a bogus benefit! If you dared to use it, you were punished for doing so.
I know an RN on who worked on 4100 - medical floor at DMH that receives all the patients with infections - who was seen in the ER with a fever of 103 and symptoms of a serious respiratory infection. She was given a note by one of DMH's own ER doctors that said SHE COULD NOT RETURN TO WORK BECAUSE OF THE INFECTION she was carrying. Made sense to me - protect patients and co-workers from contracting a serious infectious disease.
Unfortunately, she had been ill several times previously that year - it happens when you work on a floor where most of the patients have some type of infection.
DMH fired her, despite the note from one of their own doctors stating she could not return to work because "she had exceeded the number of sick days allowed". The head nurse tried to take the note from the doctor away from the RN but she was smart enough to keep it. As a result, this talented RN was fired, but did receive unemployment benefits until she found a new job. At her new job, she is making $4 an hour more than she was at DMH and has much better benefits. She wouldn't go back to DMH if they doubled her salary. She had no idea what a terrible place it was to work at until she was humiliated by being fired for the terrible sin of becoming ill.
Patients are admitted to 4100 with clear symptoms of infections but are not placed in isolation until cultures taken come back positive which can take up to 72 hours. By that time, all staff members have been exposed and these same staff members are exposing other patients to infectious diseases. They are also exposing their family members or anyone they meet on the street or in a store.
MRSA, one of the "superbugs" that have received so much press in the past few years is rampant at DMH.
All employees and doctors at DMH should have cultures taken to see whether or not they have been infected with MRSA. DMH won't do this though, because they know that most of the cultures would come back positive. It would cost DMH a fortune to do this though because they would have to pay for the antibiotics to clear up the infected carriers. Penny wise pound foolish policy to me.
As a result you have a bunch of Typhoid Mary's, or in this case, MRSA Mary's unknowingly infecting innocent members of the community who have never even stepped foot in DMH.
Enter DMH at your own risk. Chances are great that you will come into contact with an employee
who is infected with MRSA and does not know it.
The CDC should get involved in this one. Many of the "community acquired" cases of MRSA that affect our high school athletes and other innocents could probably be traced back to DMH.
So in order to protect themselves from receiving an "occurence" for taking a sick time, employees burn through their vacation time instead.
DMH has proved that it does not care about the health of its employees. How can they prove that they care about the health of the community?
I don't think they do. They care about how much money administrators can keep for themselves.
So Smithmier and the other administrators are going to give up a week of pay to show employees that they are sharing their pain.
BULL!
That is pocket change to them. Add a week's pay up from all the administrators and I bet you could buy a lot of groceries or pay quite a few power bills for the DMH employees who are making minimum wage (kitchen workers, housekeepers, etc.)
I live near DMH and often see employees enter and leave wearing their different colored "work clothes".
Bearing in mind the comment above citing the high incidence of MRSA I am now wondering if this infection could be carried into the general community via the employee's clothing.
Should not Nurses etc. wear street clothing to the Hospital and then change into more sterile Hospital clothing?
What possible infections/contaminants could be brought to and from the facility via clothing worn from the employee's Home to and from the DMH Hospital?
For example,what if a Hospital worker's (Nurses etc.) have an ill child or elderly relative with illness in the Home for which the(employee) may also be attending?
Can anyone tell me how long MRSA is viable/infectious on clothing ?
As someone above suggested all employees of DMH should be tested and if positive treated for MRSA.
Appearences suggest expansion is more important at DMH than compassion.
How much of our tax money has been spent on the Federal investigation?
What were the results ?
Who is in charge of any investigation?
It seems we will know the answer to these reasonable questions on the Twelfth of Never?
Narcissism is not a victimless disorder...
Gee, it's too bad that Smithmier and Stone took away mental health benefits for DMH employees a few years ago when they became self-insured (read DMH gets the administrative fees) for healthcare.
From what I read here, it sounds like Smithmier, Stone, Zia, and all the docs on the DMH payroll could use some psychiatric care because it sounds like they have finally gone over the edge and lost touch with reality. From libelous ads approved by Zia insulting doctors who are not owned by DMH to DMH taking away benefits from loyal employees who really are the ones who keep the hospital patients coming to DMH, DMH administration has finally gone too far.
Oh, wait. They can't include mental health benefits in their medical insurance for employees because the only psychiatrists in town are at St. Marys.
We all know that Smithmier and Stone will not allow a single dime of "their" money to go to St. Mary's.
Absolutely correct that employees of DMH who wear their work clothes into and out of DMH can expose members of the community - their families, friends, people shopping at Walmart or Krogers when the workers stop off on their way home from work to pick up a few things to take home while still wearing their work clothes to germs they picked up while caring for patirnts at DMH.
How do you think MRSA and the other "superbugs" got into the community? They used to be hospital based infections (confined to patients in the hospital), but because hospital workers have been exposed to these terrible germs but have not been treated for them, they are now rampant in the community among people who have never stepped inside the hospital.
Also absolutely true that a DMH employee caring for a sick child or other relative at home can carry those germs into the hospital. Handwashing is great for helping stop the spread of infection, but these germs can become colonized in the noses of healthcare workers and they will not show any symptoms even though they are infected and wash their hands religously.
Guess what? Patients and other employees are then exposed to these germs and can get sick from germs workers carry into the hospital on their clothing.
Even if they do show symptoms of infections, DMH employees are punished for taking sick time by getting the dreaded occurence.
DMH does not allow you to take time off to care for a sick child or relative unless you take FMLA time, but there are so many hoops you have to jump through, most employees don't qualify for FMLA unless you have a signed statement on file with them stating that you have a significant other with a chronic disease that is expected to be ongoing. So if your child has chicken pox (not an ongoing condition), you leave him with grandma and go to work, carrying those chicken pox (herpes) germs with you.
Now if you happen to be an employee in the operating room, recovery room, or OB, you MUST CHANGE FROM THE CLOTHES YOU WEAR INTO THE HOSPITAL INTO SCRUBS PROVIDED BY THE HOSPITAL. This is to protect the surgery and OB patients from any germs you might have on your clothing. Why are these patients more deserving of this extra protection? No one wants a loved one to develop a life threatening infection after surgery or delivering a baby, but don't all patients deserve the same protection?
Another reason might be that if you die within 24 hours of surgery or delivering a baby, you are a "coroner's case" and that just might involve an investigation that the hospital does not want to have to deal with. Makes a hospital look pretty bad if they have a lot of patients dying right after having surgery or delivering a baby.
So, I suggest that Smithmier and his board of directors, take the time to review their general personnel policies regarding employees and time off to recover from illness or illness of a loved one, and Dr. Zia and his method of rigourous peer review of "qualified doctors" be re-examined. The current policies at DMH do not seem to be "improving the health of the people of central Illinois" which is their mission statement.
Smithmier, Zia, other administrators, the DMH doctors, the board of directors, all know what is going on. They just don't care about the patients, employees, or comunity. They only care about the almighty dollar.
It will continue until someone steps in and makes them answer for all they have done to ruin DMH.
Hurray for those doctors who had the nerve to say NO to Zia and his demands. You doctors are my new heroes and just might be the ones who save Decatur from Smithmier and his pals.
If Smithmier, Stone, and everyone else involved with policies at DMH, THEY will be responsible for DMH going under.
Employees are not as stupid as Smithmier would like to believe. How long does he think he can take away benefits from hard working employees before they say "screw this" and move on?
Patients are leaving DMH in droves and going to St. Mary's. That is why so many doctors have told Zia and Smithmier to shove it and joined the St. Mary's staff.
4100 used to be a very busy medical floor (with all the patients with infections) and the census usually ran in the 60's every day. A friend who still works there told me just yesterday that the census has been in the
20's and 30's. Staff members on 4100 are being forced to take time off. They can either use a vacation day or take the time off without pay.
I am sure the census has dropped much the same on other units.
It is hard to make a profit when well more than half your beds are empty.
Patients simply got tired of never seeing a nurse, waiting hours for a pain pill, and the dirty conditions at DMH and insisted that they be allowed to go to St. Mary's, at least to compare the 2 hospitals. The smart doctors listened to their patients and started admitting patients to St. Mary's.
Smithmier should listen to those patients, too. They are shouting that they want changes at DMH. Poor guy seems to have lost touch with reality. How can he continue to justify outrageous salaries and bonuses for himself and the rest of the administrators and DMH owned doctors when so many beds at DMH are empty?
I am sure he will find a way to continue to use DMH as his personal cash cow, but sooner or later, the numbers will catch up with him and there will be a true revolt by the employees and doctors who are tired of funding Ken', Tim's, Dr. Zia's, Gary Peacock's, Linda Fahey's, Terry Myer's, and "Their" doctors's personal assets.
I am sure Smithmier will say something like "the drop in patient days is due to seasonal fluctuations" but the drop in the number of patients at DMH started dropping months before the flu and pneumonia seasons were over.
Listen to the patients and people of Decatur, Ken! They are telling you that they now realize they have a choice in where to receive quality healthcare. Many of your DMH owned doctors are telling you the same thing.
It is no longer a case of patients following their doctors to St. Mary's. It is the doctors who are now following their patients to St. Mary's.
Dr. Zia's ad was a crock and the people know it.
When DMH fianlly bites the dust, Smithmier need only look in the mirror to see who is to blame.
I find it interesting that the only former CHIC doctor who is now a DMH only doctor is one of the hospitalists. Wonder what kind of deal Zia made with him to give up serving the poor and medically underserved people of Decatur who really needed him to sell his soul to Smithmier?
He really is a good doctor, but the people who count on CHIC for medical care needed him much more than DMH does.
Sad that CHIC does such great work in the community and can't keep doctors because Smithmier waves so much cash in their faces.
True story. My brother in law was in DMH a couple of weeks ago for surgery. He has had surgery there several times for an ongoing medical problem over the past few years, so he is in a position to know first hand how things have changed at DMH.
He was apalled at the "care" he received (or didn't receive) at DMH this last visit. He said the nurses were all very young and really didn't know what they were doing. He had to show a couple of them how to operate really basic equipment in his room and change his bandages. He didn't see a single nurse that was there the last time he was in the hospital less than a year ago. I can only guess that the experienced nurses he was used to have left DMH to take a job in an office or nursing home.
The really amazing thing to me is that when the anesthesiologist came into his room the night before his surgery to ask the standard questions everyone has to answer before surgery, the anesthesiologist told my brother in law that he had just come up from the emergency room. The doctor said he was very upset because there were dust bunnies all over the floor in the ER. The ER is supposed to be a very clean place, but when the doctor said something to a staff member about all the dirt down there, he was told housekeeping was short staffed and would get to it when they had time.
Pretty sad when one of DMH's own doctors is upset about conditions and cleanliness in the hospital.
Needless to say, my brother in law who was once a great defender of DMH says he will never go back there again.
Is Smithmier trying to purposely cut back on staff and experienced staff and make patients so unhappy they swear they will never go back there again?
Do he and other administrators and the DMH doctors have some sort of golden parachute that will protect them if someone finally steps in and says enough is enough - clean this place up and staff it so patients are safe and get the care they need or we will close you down. Will those golden parachutes (if they exist) let them keep such high salaries and let them move on to another hospital with no harm to their bank balances?
What is the man thinking? If the floors in a hospital are not mopped you can imagine how many other really important things are left undone. No wonder the infection rate at DMH is so high.
http://www.yourlawyer.com/topics/overview/mrsa_infections
Does DMH take these precautions?
Poster above states that he/she worked at DMH for almost 2 years and never saw anyone in upper management stand up and show any sturdy backbone.
There was a VP at DMH who DID have the courage to stand up to Smithmier about 10 years ago.
His reward? He went to work one morning just to find everything in his office packed up and was escorted off the premises by security.
He is a great man, well known in the community and managed to survive being fired by Smithmier for having a backbone.
He now owns his own thriving business and treats his clients & employees with respect.
He is proof that there is life after DMH, the world does not revolve around Smithmier and should be an inspiration to any employees who worry about leaving the so-called "security" of DMH.
Post a Comment
<< Home