Conflict of Interest

Murray Baker Bridge, Peoria

In 2016, President-Elect Donald Trump was told to avoid conflict of interest or even the appearance of conflict of interest. He is a businessman with the "Trump Brand" in multiple countries. And as President of the United States for the last four years, many have screamed that his conflict of interest was bad for the security of the United States. 

OSF in Peoria supports Advanced Medical Transport (AMT) which is the only Paramedic/Transport agency in Peoria.

OSF and AMT both control the EMS Project Medical Director who is a physician and supervises prehospital care in Peoria and the surrounding region. This physician determines whether the Peoria Fire Department (PFD) can provide Paramedic support to the Peoria community. This physician also is influential at the level of the City of Peoria whose council people listen to his professional opinion and then decide whether they will provide the funds for the PFD to upgrade their EMS services.  

The previous Project Medical Director was paid by OSF and AMT and he is still Medical Director of AMT and still works at OSF.

It is indeed a tangled web.

Conflict of interest is only bad if acted upon in a negative fashion. We all experienced conflict of interest in our lives and most of us do what is right.  

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Questions:

1. Should I name the people involved? Does it make any difference to the narrative?

2. The general population in Peoria has no idea who is taking care of Uncle George when he is found down in his living room. EMS is a mystery. And the conflict of interest above has been going on for 25 years. And if does anyone really care about diving deeper into this subject?

3. In the mid-2000s, I wrote the bishop about the apparent conflict of interest above. His Vicar General answered me and said that there was nothing the Diocese of Peoria could do about this. The Diocese will support Peoria's business community and the business community and the City of Peoria will support OSF/AMT. And OSF/AMT will tell the physician in charge of EMS exactly what to do. 

4. Peoria's physician community has been silent on this issue except when the powers that be ask a physician to counter me with a well-placed opinion article in the Peoria Journal Star.

5. And now in 2020, all of the Peoria Fire Engines (except two) are Advanced Life Support (ALS). How did this happen when the public was told in the early 2000s that it was unnecessary for the Peoria Fire Department to upgrade?



John A. Carroll, MD
www.haitianhearts.org