Garthwaite no guru – 01/27/05 – Published Pasadena Star News
January 15, 2005
Editor
Pasadena Star News
911 Colorado Blvd.
Pasadena, CA 91109
Re: “Oversight overdoes”
Dear Editor,
I would have to agree that if the Board of Supervisors does not cede their control to the independent body then that body would become just another layer in the already bloated County bureaucracy. However, you are wrong to think that Dr. Garthwaite needs more freedom to do what he needs to do to get the job done. When it comes to the issue of King/Drew Medical Center, for once the Board actually gave up control. For more then one year Dr. Garthwaite, his hand-picked team of experts (his words not mine) and two separate consulting firms (of which one was awarded a sole-source contract) had free rein to make all necessary changes as it applied to King/Drew. In that year we saw a bad situation get progressively worse and left on the brink of collapse. Now, because of Garthwaite’s inability to make changes the County had to sign a memorandum of understanding with the Feds (CMS) to hire an independent hospital management turn around team, Navigant, at the cost of 13.2 million+.
If Garthwaite was the health guru your editorial makes him out to be we would not have the results we have today, and the Navigant team might not have come to the conclusions that one of the problems was that at times DHS (that would be Garthwaite et al) failed to give the Board the appropriate information to make sounds decisions. Does the Board deserve blame for this current debacle, of course; but do not attempt to paint Garthwaite as helpless and blameless in this matter. If he was a true health guru he would have stood up to the Board, instead he was too busy playing politics and being a good sycophant.
Sincerely,
Geneviève M. Clavreul, RN, Ph.D.
