Dear Haitian-American Community

Dear Haitian-American Community,


I am very worried about what is happening in Peoria.

OSF's lawyer, Douglass Marshall, has sent e mails to the United States Consulate in Port-au-Prince and to Cleveland Clinic Foundation (CCF).

The correspondence concerns the visa status of a patient of mine...Heurese Joseph.

Here is a sample of the confusion Mr. Marshall has created. This is a snippet of one interdepartmental e mail at CCF regarding Heurese from two days ago:

We talked last week about a patient named Heurese Joseph from Haiti. A hospital in IL is interested in knowing whether we approved or signed off on a B-2 visa form saying we would provide medical care to this patient. Is there a particular person in GPS that handles B-2 visas?

So what is being said here?

Mr. Marshall is asking CCF if they approved a B-2 visa for Heurese to travel to the United States for heart surgery at CCF. Why does Mr. Marshall and the hospital that he represents, OSF in Peoria, care whether CCF signed off on her visa? Her surgery was done in Cleveland, not Peoria.

The confusion created by Mr. Marshall runs through many departments at CCF as evidenced by the e mail stream.

The American Consulate was alarmed last week when Mr. Marshall contacted them about Heurese. The American Consulate contacted me. I responded and the Consulate thanked me and asked me if I would explain to Mr. Marshall.

Why did Mr. Marshall contact the American Consulate in Haiti about Heurese?

My great fear is that OSF and Mr. Marshall are "poisoning the well" at CCF and the American Consulate in Haiti. This could make it difficult for me to get Haitian Hearts patients out of Haiti and accepted by CCF in the future.

And my fear is supported by OSF's recent history. Several years ago OSF and Mr. Marshall blocked my Haitian patients from returning to OSF in Peoria even with full and partial charges offered for their medical care at OSF. Many Haitian kids have suffered and some have died.

I doubt Mr. Marshall will answer my e mail in the preceeding post.

I also doubt that our local Catholic Diocese, lead by Bishop Daniel Jenky, will do anything to stop OSF from creating further confusion. Bishop Jenky has been impotent regarding important moral and ethical issues, including Haitian Hearts patients, at OSF in the past. (I e mailed the Chancellor of the Peoria Diocese last night and asked her to forward my e mail to Bishop Jenky since I do not have Bishop Jenky's e mail address.)

Thus, sick Haitian children and young adults with serious heart problems, need your help. There are no meaningful checks and balances in Peoria regarding the above issues. Hardly anyone really cares about these Haitian children to step out of their comfort zone and challenge OSF and Mr. Marshall.

I depend on you to intervene to try and convince OSF to live the Catholic faith and abide by their mission philosophy and give the Haitian children a meaningful chance at life.

Sincerely,

John A. Carroll, M.D.
Peoria, Illinois