My Letter to Children’s Hospital of Illinois Advisory Board Members—December 2003--December 2019

 

Peoria Riverfront–December 2019 (Photo by John Carroll)

December 15, 2003

Dear CHOI Board Members,

I would like to summarize some areas of concern that I have with OSF. These issues occurred mainly in the last two years.

Haitian Hearts had another successful year. In 2003, we were able to procure 18 surgeries and four cardiac catheterizations (diagnostic and therapeutic) for Haitian children. These procedures occurred in five different states. We also evaluated multiple new patients with either congenital or acquired cardiac defects at clinics and hospitals in Haiti. Seven trips to Haiti were made this year for medical reasons.

I write this letter with such a “heavy heart” that Haitian children have been banned from CHOI. The medical personnel at CHOI provided excellent care for the children. Despite the medical miracles that occurred, administrators decided not to continue the program and contacted the U.S. Consulate in Port au Prince to tell them OSF -CHOI would care for no more Haitian children.

This has all been so difficult. The American Consulate officials in Haiti were even stunned relaying this information to me in January after the Director of CHOI had called the Consulate. The Consulate officials knew the consequences of this action.

How and why did this happen? Haitian Hearts even offered OSF 100% full charges for a Haitian patient, and we were denied. When was the last time you can recall any patient at OSF being denied treatment, regardless of their ability to pay?

When was the last time that you can recall a patient being refused treatment when they offered 100% charges prior to their treatment? This scenario probably never occurred before at OSF. Obviously, the issues seem greater than economic when 100% full charges are offered and denied. (Haitian Hearts donated $445,000 to OSF-CHOI during 2002 to help defray inpatient expenses.)

Why are the Sisters’ mission statements being ignored?

In addition to numerous Haitian children suffering unnecessarily, medical students from UICOMP, resident physicians, attending physicians, and nursing staff no longer have the ability to learn from these Haitian children with their educational pathology. It is very likely that taking care of these kids would improve the care of American children. The physicians at CHOI obviously enjoyed caring for the Haitian children over the years and they learned from their experiences with them. Is discontinuing Haitian Hearts good for our “downstate medical center?” Who made these decisions and why?

More concerning issues include:

1. A high ranking employee at CHOI-Foundation adamantly requested that Lyn Banta, from Rotary Club North (RCN), turn over $12,500 to CHOI. This money was collected by RCN for Haitian Hearts to be used for outpatient expenses (travel, visas, medication, lodging). This was well known to RCN, Haitian Hearts, and CHOI. Mr. Banta informed me that “Haitian Hearts would never have seen this money if “I turned it over.” He did not release it to CHOI. The employee at Foundation was told to request this money by the Executive Director of CHOI. This is just not how a Catholic hospital should function.

2. Haitian Hearts has not received any funds that were sent to OSF-CHOI since we became a tax-exempt organization in October 2002. Haitian Hearts wouldn’t have even known about these funds without taking extraordinary measures to find this out. An Illinois State Senator has been in contact with the Director of CHOI and a private lawyer has been in contact with OSF’s attorney. Haitian Hearts realizes OSF has a bjg “war chest”, but where is the morality here? Should more Haitian children suffer due to dedicated funds that are being withheld from them?

3. The Executive Director of CHOI helped delay the cardiac catheterization and subsequent surgery of a Haitian child. Is this precedent healthy and consistent with the Sisters’ mission statements? Is this a good idea for the non-Haitian children in central Illinois if this were continued? Why would an administrator have the power to do this? Where are the checks and balances at OSF? If this were your child, grandchild, or you were guardian of this child, would you have been happy with this intervention? Did he do this with the medical concern for the child as his primary concern? Were any other surgeries delayed for any other Haitian children, and did they suffer for this?

These are a few concerns. I have many others.

As the recently deceased Senator Paul Simon stated, “I want to appeal to the best in us.” I know you want the best for children. But many things happen that you as board members are not told. Boards are given the sterile picture for obvious reasons. Just a few people have done so much damage. Please give me the opportunity to address the CHOI Board regarding these concerns.

Sincerely,

John Carroll

cc: Board of Directors, OSF Healthcare System Corporate Division Directors

Denouement and Learning Points–2019

I did not get the opportunity to address the CHOI Board regarding these issues.

Doug Marshall, OSF attorney, sent me a letter 3 months later stating that my letter “contained a defamatory statement concerning delay of care”. He was referring to statement number 3 above. He went on to write that, “…republication of that statement, if deemed defamatory, may result in legal action.”

So OSF was threatening to sue me for reporting the truth to the OSF-CHOI Advisory Board. This action by the Executive Director of CHOI (Paul Kramer) was indeed embarrassing for OSF, and when I reported it to the OSF Pediatric Resource Center, the Haitian child was put on the schedule immediately.

Shortly after this letter was sent, Keith Steffen signed a check to Haitian Hearts for approximately $8,343.43. We have no idea where this came from and whether OSF was cashing checks that were coming to OSF for Haitian Hearts. We received no donor lists from the general public since December 2002 because OSF-CHOI Foundation would not give Haitian Hearts the donor list. Thus, we had no idea who to thank and how much is being donated for Haitian children. Interestingly, OSF-CHOI did use the Haitian Hearts donor list to send out literature for Children’s Hospital of Illinois to raise money for Children’s Hospital, not for Haitian Hearts children who they have banned from the hospital.

Big organizations need to be held accountable for their actions. But this can be very difficult because they have better lawyers than you and I do. OSF would have never released this money to us if I had not gone to Children’s Hospital Foundation.

Rotary Club North knew they had a tiger by the tail and told me. They wanted no part of taking on OSF. And neither did Bishop Jenky.

And even though the CEO of Children’s Hospital said he was slowing things down for my Haitian children, OSF’s lawyer said he would consider legal action against me. Figure that out.

Now medical students and resident physicians in Peoria can learn off mannequins rather than real patients who have rheumatic and congenital heart disease.

John A. Carroll, MD

www.haitianhearts.org