Deep Dive–Bishop Jenky Rejects Catholic Tribunal–2003--December 2019

  

Southern Haiti after Hurricane Matthew–October 2016 (Photo by John Carroll)

A Catholic tribunal court is a “search for the truth”. The church has long endorsed the principle of subsidiarity, affirming that decisions should be made and disputes resolved at the lowest possible level of authority, with appeals to a higher authority only when such efforts fail. Thus, the diocesan bishop, and not the Pope, creates disciplinary policies for his local church. According to Canon Law, the bishop needs to get involved in cases where the public good may be at stake. Bishops are bound by canon law. Their actions must be in conformity with canon law. If they don’t follow canon law, their actions are invalid.

I wrote four petitions for tribunal courts in 2003 and my brother wrote for one and we sent them to Bishop Jenky at the Diocese. Bishop Jenky answered only one of the five with a typed written letter. And in his response, he advised me to take my petition to Rome because the OSF sisters are a “pontificate of Rome”, which meant that he had no control over this matter. However, in his office, he told me, that there would be no tribunal court against OSF because he was the JUDGE and he would “not judge against OSF”.

If OSF had a viable system of checks and balances, I would not have had to request a tribunal court from Bishop Jenky in the first place. For example, when I asked Doctor Gerald McShane, Director of the Ethics Committee, to bring up an issue regarding Keith Steffen’s threatening behavior to the Ethics Committee, McShane told me that Steffen was on the ethics board and my complaints would probably go nowhere. I asked OSF Corporate Ethicist, Joe Piccione, multiple times to take serious issues regarding medical abandonment of Haitian kids to the ethics committee and I never heard back.

The American Medical Association statement on Ethics Committees in Health Care Institutions (E-9.11) state that “ethics committee members should be selected on the basis of their concerns for the welfare of the sick and infirm which include the pre-hospital patient, the emergency department patient, and Haitian children that need heart surgery, their interest in ethical matters, and their reputation in the community for integrity and mature judgment. Committee members should not have other responsibilities with their duties as members of ethics committees.”This statement, by itself, ruled out Keith Steffen, OSF Administrator.

This AMA statement was ignored by OSF. McShane, Piccione, and Steffen were all very well paid individuals in OSF Corporate and OSF Administration. None of them gave unbiased decisions regarding ethics at OSF. And this was an example of the governing elite of an organization thinking that is the organization.

At the Diocese, if Bishop Jenky would have allowed a Catholic tribunal court against OSF, he would have faced these issues in my petition which I list in chronological order. He would have had to search for the truth with each petition, as the tribunal dictates. Bishop Jenky chose not to address these issues which, of course, protected OSF.

Reasons for a Catholic Tribunal Court vs. OSF:

1. The public good was at issue, with long waiting times in the ER and lack of bed capacity within OSF-SFMC. Tim Miller had told me in 2001 that the “main campus had been ignored” (while the Center for Health was being built on the north side of the city). Keith Steffen had told me that there had been serious problems with leadership in the ER at OSF and Sue Wozniak said there had been “poor planning” regarding our dysfunctional Emergency Room. (The ER had the lowest patient satisfaction and employee satisfaction in the medical center.)

2. My termination from OSF had been punitive and retaliatory for pointing out obvious problems getting patients admitted from the Emergency Department. I wrote Keith Steffen on September 27, 2001 and copied all of the Emergency Department physicians including Dr. Hevesy. I was to learn that Dr. George Hevesy, Director of the ER and in control of all the ambulances in the Peoria area for many years, was on the payroll at Advanced Medical Transport, and according to the Peoria Fire Department had “obstructed” them as they desired to give better care for people that call 911 in an emergency. I felt that there was a very negative conflict of interest here with Hevesy on OSF’s and AMT’s salary. Also, Sue Wozniak, CFO at OSF, is on the AMT Board of Directors which I did not think was a healthy relationship either. (Hevesy stepped down as Project Medical Director in 2002. Wozniak told me that it was a good idea that Hevesy stepped down, because it didn’t look good….that was for sure because of the conflict of interest which had been going on for years.)

3. During my first meeting with Keith Steffen in October, 2001, he metaphorically referred to me as a malignancy and an “uncontrolled hemorrhage in the ER at OSF”. He also told me repeatedly that “when this comes out about you, it is not going to be good”. He called me a “bad person” to other people who met with him in his office. Steffen also spoke outside of the hospital about my termination. This was defamatory behavior on his part and very destructive. His comment that Haitian children “make him want to puke” was very wrong. Open and honest communication, an OSF Mission Statement,  and respect for Catholic social teaching, was absent with Steffen.

4. Keith Steffen also brought up the concept of fear amongst employees as being a good thing. Fear plays a big role in the medical community in Peoria. Steffen shouldn’t promote this. Even Joe Piccione emailed me in November of 2005, deploring his fear concept.

5. Chris Lofgren, OSF spokesman, spun the truth to the media regarding the fate of Haitian Hearts after I was fired. The medical center should be honest in all forums. He also spoke to a hospital employee about my termination and on one occasion laughed and told me that “maybe Sister Canisia started the rumors”.

6. Keith Steffen stated that he was going to stop all funding for Haitian Hearts which he did on July 12, 2002. This action was in opposition to what Sister Judith Ann had stated that “OSF will never turn away a child”. Once again, the Sisters Mission Statements were violated as were the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services.

7. OSF-CHOI executive director, Paul Kramer, told the pediatric cardiology office not to schedule a Haitian child for cardiac catheterization, thus delaying her surgery. I watched him walk into a cardiology exam room while a 24-year-old Haitian lady was being examined by the cardiologist. The host mother with this lady was enraged with Kramer for his violation of this patient’s privacy. OSF administration seemed was controlling surgeries and procedures for certain Haitian Hearts patients. After I reported Kramer’s actions to the OSF  Pediatric Resource Center for negligence, the Haitian child was immediately placed on the catheterization schedule.

8. OSF refused full charges from Haitian Hearts for Willie Fortune who needed his pacemaker changed. He was dying in Haiti and OSF refused him. (He was emergently operated at another medical center in the United States.) This action is in direct opposition to Catholic social teachings, the Ethical and Religious Directives, and the Sisters Mission Statements. (Since, OSF refused Willie, other former OSF patients have been denied treatement at OSF, and at least one has died (Jackson Jean-Baptiste), after 20,000 dollars was offered for his care.)

9. The OSF Corporate Ethicist and the Director of the Ethics Committee (Piccione and McShane) did not seem to respond in an “ethical fashion” to my requests for certain important topics to be brought up to the ethics committee. I never heard from the ethics committee in 5 years regarding any of my requests.

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Thus, there were multiple reasons why OSF needed to face a tribunal court. The “public good” was definitely at stake. Haitian kids were going to die in the mid-2000s and some people who call 911 in Peoria are still not receiving Advanced Life Support in 2019 even when Peoria firefighters arrive and have ALS certification.

Also, Haitian Hearts had many questions regarding OSF-CHOI and OSF Foundation handling of funds for Haitian children. In a post that is coming, I will describe how Paul Kramer admitted to asking Linda Arnold to ask for funds from Rotary Club North that were not intended to go to OSF. These funds from Rotary Club North were dedicated to Haitian Hearts for out of hospital expenses for the Haitian children (medication, food, flights, etc.) OSF also withheld donor lists to Haitian Hearts, and so it made it impossible for us to see who was donating to Haitian Hearts and to ascertain whether OSF diverted any of these funds. For example, what happened to the majority of Caterpillar Foundation’s generous contribution for Haitian children’s heart surgeries in 2001?

Why did Bishop Jenky not give the tribunal a chance? A review board would have looked at the above and made a recommendation to him. Many witnesses could easily be called.

The answer is that in 2001, OSF had dug itself into a huge hole. And they needed help from Bishop Jenky. So he had to tell me that he would not judge against OSF.

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Denouement and Learning Points–2019

1. In 2019, is there anything to do to make sure that medical centers in the US do not abuse their power and discriminate against people of lower-income who need health services?

2. How do we hold medical centers accountable for their medical neglect? Or can we?

3. OSF is not the only Catholic medical center in the US with bad behavior. Catholic medical centers have gone so far as to hire planes to take international patients back to their villages (Mexico) where they have died quietly and away from the media. OSF wanted to control my Haitian patients’ passports. I said no in 2001 because I was so afraid that OSF would try and “repatriate” my poor Haitian kids.

4. Hospitals in Haiti are absolutely terrible. They require money upfront. Patients are held in the hospital AGAINST THEIR WILL if they do not pay. Was OSF any better?

5. “The task is not so much to see what no one has seen, but to think what nobody has yet thought, about that which everybody sees.” — SCHRÖDINGER

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February 18, 2003

Dear Sister Judith Ann,

I am writing this letter in hopes of avoiding filing a petition with the Catholic Diocese of Peoria for a tribunal court against OSF-SFMC. Reasons for filing this petition include the following:

1. Corporate malaise that allows OSF Administration to make decisions that clearly contradict the Sisters' Mission. 

2. Defamation of character by OSF Administration and upper-level management at the time of my firing. (This still continues within the medical center.)

3. Unjust termination of my employment at OSF in December 2001.

4. Many other serious issues. 

For the past 15 months I have attempted to resolve these issues. I have met with many people, including diocesan officials. I believe that you most likely have been advised not to meet with me which is unfortunate because I am sure that if we meet we could resolve the above issues. It is my great hope that a productive meeting with you may avoid the prospect of a tribunal court, and I respectfully request such a meeting within the next several days. 

As you know, I take what you have told me very seriously regarding the OSF Mission Statement and Values. I and many others believe that the community well being and OSF's identity are seriously impaired by these issues. 

Let us not miss this opportunity to preserve OSF's tradition of caring. 

Sincerely,

John A. Carroll, MD

cc: Bishop Daniel Jenky, Msgr. Steven Rohlfs, Patricia Gibson, Msgr. James Campbell, Msgr. Richard Soseman, Sr. Mary Ellen Flannery, Gerald McShane, MD, Joseph Piccione

(Sister never responded to this letter. And as detailed above, Bishop Jenky stated that there would be no tribunal court against OSF and he "would not rule against OSF.")

 

John A. Carroll, MD

www.haitianhearts.org