and disabled, she’d often said to me that she’d be damned before she’d let another group of entrepreneurial fat cats take over their largest hospital. Bill, when she finished praying her entire body seemed to relax as if she was finally at peace with herself - just as if an answer came to her without any doubt as to what had to be done. I could see the pain in her eyes as she maneuvered her large frame into a standing position, inhaling deeply to relieve that constant hip pain that had always plagued her.”
Then she looked at me and said, “Doc, we’re not licked yet. We’re not going to give up our mission, or let some corrupt group of fat cats profit from these poor sick and disabled human beings.”
“Bill, I can remember how her brown eyes were flashing in defiance as she hurriedly walked to Sister Jean’s office with me right behind her.”
“Dave Nelson, that consultant we hired, has just completed a Role and Program Study for us,” she muttered, searching for his phone number. “He’s familiar with our problems. I’m going to ask him to get us a professional administrator who can salvage this hospital.”
For a moment, I’d felt like I’d just witnessed a miracle. Fortunately, Dave Nelson, the Vice-President of the Harrington and Associates was at his desk, as she blurted out, “Mr. Nelson, this is Sister Gerome. I’m sorry to bother you, but something has come up that urgently requires your help.”
Since she had him on a speaker phone I could hear him say, “Sister, that’s no problem. What’s on your mind?”
“Mr. Nelson, I’ve got a big problem and I need your help. Sister Jean and Sister Catherine were killed in a car accident Friday night. They were both driving to Colorado to meet with me on Monday, and they were planning to resign if you can believe that. In fact, they told me they were planning to leave the order immediately.”
“Sister, I’m so sorry to hear that - that’s terrible! Please accept our sympathy.”
“Thank you, but this has been a terrible set back to us as you can well imagine, and I can no longer let our hospital problems continue this way. I need to take the necessary steps to protect our ownership, and I want you to get me a top notch lay administrator who can put things back together. I know the church won’t like that, but that’s the way it is.”
“Sister, this day was inevitable,” Dave said to her, “and I’m glad you’re finally ready to face up to your problems. What you’re going to have to do is get somebody who can go in there and play hard ball - and you know what? You’re going to have an even bigger problem when these new Medicare Caps control your hospital’s reimbursement, which goes into effect in just eighteen months. Actually, you have less than two years to reduce your expenses, or your hospital is going out of business.”
“I’m just beginning to realize that,” she grumbled. “Worse yet, Mr. Simms, our Provincialate Controller, feels there have been some huge amounts of money disappearing from that hospital. He thinks it’s been going on since that Controller, Mr. Collier, and the new Board Chairman, Doctor Richard Lanin have taken over the Board of Directors. In fact, we’ve become one of the highest charging hospitals in the nation. Just the other day he showed me how the hospital’s expenses have been increasing at an average of twenty percent annually since those two came on board. And this year, they expect an increase of more than thirty percent. We’ve been asking Sister Jean about this for months, but she can’t, or won’t give us any answers. But that’s what this was all about. Mr. Nelson, we’re beginning to feel like outsiders in our own hospital. And you’re absolutely right, we’re going to lose another hospital if something isn’t done to turn things around - and I mean right now!”
“Well, that’s not going to be an easy assignment,” Dave replied. “In fact, I can only think of a couple men in the entire country who might be persuaded to handle that type of combat - and I can tell you right up front - it’ll be very difficult to persuade them to take on that bunch of hoodlums and their powerful international bankers that have bankrolled them.”
“Mr. Nelson, I want you to contact them immediately. You do whatever it takes to get a qualified administrator to help us reclaim our hospital. We just can’t continue this way any longer. And Mr. Nelson, it’s time we hire someone we can trust - someone who can look out for our interests.”
“Sister, I’ll get right on it,” Dave replied, “and I don’t want you to get discouraged, I’m sure we’ll find someone who can measure up to the task. I’ll discuss it with our staff this afternoon and I’ll call you first thing, once I find a candidate for the job.”
“And Bill, as you know - we were fortunate enough to hire you,” Doc said. “But now you need to understand that Lanin is going to make you pay dearly for what you’ve accomplished. As Board Chairman, Lanin has used his position, and the hospital’s financial wherewithal to move up rapidly in the informal ranks of his Dinosaur Club, which represents a sizable group of corrupt physicians throughout North Dakota, Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, and I believe Colorado.”
Bill recalled looking at Susan, who was glaring at him. “I’ve heard about that wealthy Oligarchy that wants to make some big bucks off healthcare, but I had no idea that many doctors were mixed up in this thing,” Bill scowled, starring at Doc.
“You can bet your sweet ass it’s big, and you better pay close attention to what I’m going to tell you. I now understand this Dinosaur Club has just appointed Lanin to some top position, and the officers of that illustrious aristocracy meet secretly every quarter in Las Vegas. And I suspect that the hospital has been unknowingly paying for all of Lanin’s previous frivolity - at least until you arrived on the scene. You may not know this, but it’s now mandatory for every member of your hospital medical staff to routinely pay a substantial amount of money in cash, to their organization if they want referrals from Lanin’s clinic. This money is then used to accomplish their political agenda.”
Bill recalled the sour look on Doc’s face as he continued.
“From what I’ve been told, they keep no minutes, and their financial power and influence is growing every year. So far, I’ve refused to pay one damn dime to them because I just can’t swallow their strong-arm tactics. But recently, Odoroff, who’s short on ears and long on mouth told me I’d have to contribute three thousand dollars in cash, and that’s what persuaded me to get the hell out. Hell, those contributions go right into some God damned politician’s pocket, so that healthcare can be shoved out into the open market, where only those who can afford care will receive it. That’s nothing more than a two level system where the poor will get pissed on - and that’s called trickle down healthcare.”
“My God Doc, what type of professional image is healthcare getting? What are they going to do for an encore, screw all our sick and disabled in America?” Bill snarled. “Americans have already paid billions of tax dollars to develop a quality nonprofit healthcare infrastructure, and it sounds like these bastards intend to rape and pillage the poor sick and disabled patient into oblivion.”
“It’s much worse than that, and it’s not just healthcare we’re talking about. Our utility companies, our airline industry, our schools, and many of our large corporations have all been deregulated so this wealthy upper class can create their New World Order and monopolize the global market under the deceitful heading of globalization. And the only thing their HMO’s and their corporate practice of medicine look at when they see a patient is how many dollars can we squeeze out of this one. So as a result, our once nonprofit, legally licensed private practice of medicine by professional doctors is going to hell in a hand basket, which doesn’t sound like an open market to me. And on top of all that, the patient doesn’t have a damned thing to say about what’s being done to them anymore. But what else is new? Hell, these guys don’t know what democracy means - I can’t tell if it’s a democracy or hypocrisy. Worse yet, my once respected Republican conservative party and this Dynasty have all been bought off by these bastards, if you can believe that.”
Bill remembered how Susan had been squirming in her chair, and finally out of complete frustration she blurted out, “Doc, what’s happened to that Hippocratic Oath you all thought was so sacred?”