Dishonesty in the Diocese

The July 1, 2007 issue of The Catholic Post in Peoria has an article: “Bishop Reestablishes Diocesan Health Care Committee”.

The article begins:

“As the culture moves further from Catholic moral teachings in the field of health care, strengthening the Catholic identity of our health care institutions is more important than ever.

“That is the primary mission of the Diocesan Health Care Committee, co-chaired by Father Mark Merdian, pastor of St. Matthew’s Parish in Champaign, and Lynn Grandon, director of the diocesan Office of Respect Life and Human Dignity.”

Father Merdian asked Bishop Daniel R. Jenky to revive what was formerly called the Diocesan Ethics Committee.

“The ethics committee had gone dormant when the chairman, Msgr. Steven Rohlfs, became rector of Mount St. Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Md, more than two years ago.

“Father Merdian, along with OSF HealthCare corporate ethicist Joseph Piccione, had served on that committee.

“The reconstituted and renamed committee, which meets quarterly, currently has 26 active members. Father Merdian, Grandon, Piccione and Sister Judith Ann Duvall, OSF, chairperson of OSF Healthcare System, serve together on the Diocesan Health Care Committee’s planning committee.

“The other members include hospital administrators, doctors, priests and deacons who serve as heads of pastoral care committees at hospitals, and ethics committee members from different hospitals.

“Bishop Jenky agreed with Father Merdian’s request to reestablish the committee, according to Grandon, because he saw the need to keep up communications between the bishop and the diocese's health care institution, and to help them make sure they adhere to Catholic moral teaching.

“It’s such an exciting group to be a part of. I’m so glad the bishop is letting us do this,” Grandon said.

“Bishop Jenky understands, Grandon explained, that advancing respect for life isn’t just about fighting abortion. That is just one important thread in the fabric of Catholic moral teaching and medical ethics, she said.

Piccione agreed. “We have a biblical mandate to care for the poor,” he said. “The first right, which is the right to life, includes adequate health care. It says that in the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services, from the Catholic bishops of the U.S., so it really has the level of a church teaching.”

The church’s concern for the sick, Piccione said, is “rooted in the lived example of our Lord, but also the experience of the apostles in the early church.”

Health care ministry “is ancient in the church’s experience, and it’s to be applied to our experience in the 21st century,” he said.

“Among the responsibilities of the Diocesan Health Care Committee are assisting and advising diocesan health care institutions with matters of medical ethics. The committee also offers guidance regarding competition with other health care institutions and financial and marketing issues, said Father Merdian.

“According to Grandon, the committee is also planning to create a questionnaire and an audit system to ensure diocesan health care institutions are adhering to and are effectively teaching the church’s religious and ethical directives.”

My comments regarding The Catholic Post article:

The article is shameless. If I would have read this article a few years ago, I would have thought how worthwhile this idea was. Now I have a hard time believing that our Catholic leaders will actually do the right thing. I've seen too much damage and watched local Catholic leaders threaten, ignore, and hide.

I have extensively documented my thoughts regarding the Catholic Diocese of Peoria and OSF in Peoria on Peoria’s Medical Mafia, PMM Daily, Dying in Haiti, and John Carroll’s Posts. Both institutions have shown little respect for young Haitians that need to return to Peoria for heart surgery.

I would like to believe that the new Health Care Committee will make a difference. I think that Fr. Merdian’s hopes and goals are sincere. However, he has many obstacles in his way.

Joe Piccione was hired by OSF in the mid 1990’s to find a way, with the collaboration of the Catholic Diocese of Peoria, to allow OSF to better compete in the local medical market regarding prescribing oral contraceptives and constructing a “firewall” for sterilization procedeures. Joe, the Diocese, and OSF were successful.

Joe, who is extensively quoted in the article above, is currently on the International Committee at OSF-Children's Hospital of Illinois, to select or deny kids needing surgery at OSF-Children's Hospital of Illinois. Haitian Hearts patients, that were operated at OSF several years ago, are now dying in Haiti. OSF refuses to accept them back even with full and partial charges offered by Haitian Hearts for their care.

Other medical centers don’t want to accept these OSF patients for a multiplicity of reasons. Other medical center physicians and administrators believe that OSF is acting negligently.

Where have Joe’s public statements been supporting these kids returning to OSF for their care? Joe states that it is a “biblical mandate” to care for the poor. He even states that the Ethical and Religious Directives of the Catholic Bishops regarding health care are at the level of church teaching. Does Joe Piccione really believe that OSF needs to follow these Directives? Remember, OSF signs his paycheck.

I believe that if the Diocese and OSF, with the help of their Catholic ethicists, Monsignor Rohlfs, Piccione, and a few others, could so adeptly deal with the local oral contraceptive issue at OSF, then they can easily dismiss Haitian kids to early deaths.

Will the new Committee have any ability to have creative discussions or dissent? Will the Committee use the Ethical and Religious Directives as "church teaching" and evidence to convince OSF and Bishop Jenky that the Directives need to be followed and that respect for life includes Haitians? Will the Committee mainly be “yes” people from the Diocese and the OSF System that will maintain the status quo regarding respect for life issues at OSF?

A July 5, 2007 article in the New England Journal of Medicine mentioned ethics committees:

“Whereas the judicial system assures Americans of having a “jury of peers", hospital ethics committees are not held to this standard. Although it is true that most committees include one or two members of the community (often grateful patients of the hospital), most members are physicians, nurses, and other clinicians from the hospital staff. Without in any way calling into question their motivations or intentions, we must recognize that they are unavoidably “insiders,” completely acculturated to the clinical world and its attendant values.

“Of course we could do better. Some have suggested setting up ad hoc ethics committees with a membership that truly represents the diversity of the local population, without any financial or social ties to the hospitals they serve, specifically to offer a more legitimate sounding board for difficult cases in which the hospital ethics committee could be seen as having a conflict of interest or a biased perspective.”

I worry that the new Diocesan Committee may have a "biased perspective".

Until Bishop Jenky takes control, dismisses his fear of OSF, and insists that the Ethical and Religious Directives be followed at OSF, Haitian children will continue to die.

Father Merdian has his work cut out for him.

Luke--Part III

Luke’s OSF Bill

I received Luke’s itemized bill from OSF a couple of days ago.

The bill was for his outpatient tests done on June 15, 2007 in the operating room with a general anesthesia. No surgery was performed.

Below is the itemized bill. (I tried to scan his original bill, but I couldn’t get it to scan and paste on this post.)

June 15, 2007—

1. Pulse Oximeter--$81.00
The pulse oximeter is a non invasive technique to measure oxygen level in the blood. A piece of disposable tape with a sensor is wrapped around a digit and attached to the pulse oximeter.

2.Retrograde Urogram--$481.00
The urologist injected dye up Luke’s ureters to better deliniate his anatomy.

3. Acetaminophen 650 mg.--$3.25
Acetaminophen is generic Tylenol. I called a local pharmacy. If #12 650 mg acetaminophen suppositories are purchased, each suppository is 21 cents.

4. Dexamethasone 10 mg.—$19.40

5. Ondansetron--$22.45

6. Fentanyl--$17.50

7. Cefazolin--$64.80

8. Gentamicin 40mg/ml--$63.40
Gentamicin is an antibiotic that is commonly used for kidney infections. It is given IV or IM. If I were to buy the same amount of Gentamicin from a local pharmacy in Peoria, it would have cost me 40 cents, not $63.40.

9. Sodium Chloride 0.9% IVSL--$82.10
This is sterile salt water in an IV bag.

10. SFMC-OR-Conray 60% 30 ml vial--$33.00

11. SFMC-OR-Basin-Sterile-All sizes--$19.00

12. Drape:Proc Pack/Kit/Tray:Urology--$45.00

13. Surgery, 1st 30 minutes Level II--$1,771.00
This charge is for the first 30 minutes in the operating room.

14. Surgery, Each Additional 30 minutes Level II--$856.00

15. Anesthesia Services, 0-30 minutes--$1,873.00
This was the first 30 minutes after Luke was given the general anesthetic.

16. Anesthesia Services, Each Additional 30 minutes--$575.00

17. PACU Phase 10-30 minutes--$842.00
This was for Recovery immediately after coming out of the OR.

18. PACU Phase 2 0-30 minutes--$156.00

19. PACU Phase 2 Each Additional 15 minutes--$182.00

Total owed to OSF: $7,204.35. (I did not add this up.)

Luke entered the OR at 9 AM and was discharged to home at 11:10 AM.

The doctors’ bills are not included.


Luke’s medical care was excellent. However, the charges at OSF are obviously exorbitant.

The nurses and transports are the people carrying out the OSF mission philosophy while OSF Administration and OSF Corporate leaders make the big salaries and plan 500 million dollar OSF campus expansions.

ER Overcrowding at OSF

In September 2001 I wrote a letter to Keith Steffen regarding the ER at OSF. As documented in Keith’s Letter, the ER was not working well.

I was put on probation the next day by George Hevesy, the Director of the ED at OSF. Three months later I was fired from OSF by Mr. Steffen.

I believed then and believe now that not enough effort was directed to the main ER at OSF to help patients move efficiently through the system.

A recent study published in March 2007 in Annals of Emergency Medicine described the relative impact of input, throughput, and output factors on the average daily ED length of stay. Output factors examined included the number of elective surgical admissions, the number of ED admissions to the hospital, the number of critical care admissions, and hospital census. The only factors that were independently associated with increased ED length of stay were output factors. These included hospital occupancy, the number of ED admissions to the hospital, and the number of elective surgical admissions.

An editorial in Annals regarding this study indicated that “smooth functioning of the ED is highly dependent on the ability of a hospital to accept admitted patients. (This is considered “output”). Any disruption in the outflow of patients from the ED to the hospital drains resources and impairs the ED’s ability to car for new seriously ill or injured patients. Hospitals that have had the most success alleviating ED crowding are those that have recognized the hospital-wide nature of patient flow problems and designed initiatives to move admitted patient out of the ED more efficiently.”

My letter to Mr. Steffen six years ago was pleading for help for patients in the OSF ER that were not being admitted in a timely fashion. Were the number of “elective surgical admissions” at OSF, guaranteed to make money for OSF, keeping my ER patients boarded in the ER for long periods of time?

The Annals editorial continued:

“It is no longer just the key stake holders in the emergency care system who are calling for the end of inpatient boarding in the ED. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) has also recognized that boarding inpatients is the most important driver of ED crowding and has called on hospitals and the regulatory bodies that govern them to end the practice of boarding. The IOM committee didn’t leave shades of gray when it published the following recommendation:

“Hospitals should end the practices of boarding patients in the ED and ambulance diversion, except in the most extreme cases, such as a community mass casualty event. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services should convene a working group that includes experts in emergency care, inpatient critical care, hospital operations management, nursing, and other relevant disciplines to develop boarding and diversion standard, as well as guidelines, measures, and incentives for implementation, monitoring, and enforcement of these standards.”
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In January, 2007 Emergency Medicine News contains an article written by Dr. Peter Viccellio. Dr. Viccellio is a professor of emergency medicine and the vice chairman and clinical director of the department of emergency medicine at the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

His article was titled, “I’m as Mad as Hell, and I’m Not Going to Take This Anymore”.

Here are some interesting facts and thoughts from his article regarding the crisis of emergency departments across the United States:

1. There were 120 million people that visited emergency departments last year in the United States.

2. The patients’ needs and how long their needs take to be cared for should be enumerated in the ER. Their needs have been viewed as impossible or as a burden to be suffered alone. We (ER doctors and nurses) have been in the underbelly of the beast too long. Our view of our own world (emergency rooms) is too dysfunctional.

3. Dr. Viccellio states, “I am convinced at this point that the real under-pinning is not that we have too many patients. The real thing that drives this issue is that our hospitals as a culture are organized around the needs of the staff and not the patient. That is why we let them sit in the waiting room.”

4. The ED should be designed to save lives. It should be the front door of the medical center determined to do the same. The ED should provide a service to the individual and the community. This is an ED (and hospital) where everyone is a Very Important Person who deserves, if we can give them the chance, to continue their Very Important Life, and not to toss it away in the waiting room or ED hallway because we can only hope for an ED built on compromise and capitulation. Why demand any less?

Peoria's Airway

Annals of Emergency Medicine reported last year:

“Many researchers, emergency medical service (EMS) providers, and emergency physicians are increasingly viewing ground transport, out-of-hospital endotracheal intubation with skepticism.”

There are people on both sides of the argument. Some think that endotracheal intubation should continue for the outpatient while others think that there is not credible evidence that out-of-hospital endotracheal intubation contributes meaningfully toward the reduction of morbidity or mortality in ground transported EMS patients.

Annals continues:

“In the spirit of seeking system-level improvements, one cannot ignore the question, Should we intubate at all? For apneic or near-apneic patients, alternate airways such as the Combitube (esophageal-tracheal twin-lumen airway device; Kendall, Inc., Mansfield, MA) and laryngeal mask airway (LMA North America, San Diego, CA) have appealing characteristics and are supported by some data. These devices are conceptually simpler than endotracheal intubation, easier to insert than endotracheal tubes, require less training, and are less subject to skill delay. These devices have been extensively used as primary and secondary airway management devices. There is wide experience with the use of these devices by nonphysicians and even basic-level rescuers. Combitubes and laryngeal mask airways offer ventilation and oxygenation comparable with endotracheal intubation in controlled and field settings. Current advanced cardiac life support guidelines recommend the use of these devices when rescuers have only limited endotracheal intubation experience.”

In Peoria, the Peoria Fire Department (PFD) can oxygenate and ventilate the patient with the bag-valve-mask (BVM). The PFD cannot endotracheally intubate the patient regardless of the literature in support of this technique. Also, the PFD does not use the alternate airway techniques described above. With the blessing of the local Project Medical Director, employed by OSF-SFMC, Advanced Medical Transport (AMT) can use the BVM or select to endotracheally intubate the patient at the determination of the AMT paramedic on scene.

It has been a serious mistake not to educate the PFD in airway control that could supercede the BVM that they use now. The Combitube and the laryngeal mask airway (LMA) are two alternate airways that could and should have been used by the PFD for many patients in respiratory distress.

The local Peoria Project Medical Director, the three Peoria hospitals that influence decision making in the city, Advanced Medical Transport, PAEMS, and the City Council all need to support and encourage the PFD to develop these skills.

Resuscitation in Peoria

In Emergency Medicine News, September 2006, the following was written:

"Three years ago, the physician director of the Houston EMS system with investigators at Baylor College of Medicine, the Houston Medical School at the University of Texas, and Ohio State University looked at cardiac arrest survival as a function of ambulance deployment strategy. Though limited to a single geographic area, this study showed definiteively that outcomes for cadiac arrest patents improve when they are cared for by paramedics than by basic EMT's. (Resuscitation 2003;59:97.)

"What was the difference? The busy urban area used paramedics, and a suburb used EMT's (Basic).

"The authors said the study demonstrated better response times and better skills proficency by the "targeted response" team in the urban core, or as they call it, the TR paramedics."

In Peoria, the Peoria Fire Department (PFD) is Basic. The PFD has paramedics that cannot use their skills to resuscitate patients. This unfortunate decision has been made by multiple individuals. The majority of the Peoria public is not aware that the PFD cannot resuscitate them with advanced life support when the public calls 911.

The medical literature also states that having too many paramedics trained in an area may not be ideal for patient care because an individual paramedic may not be able to keep up his/her skills with competition for procedeures by other paramedics.

Thus, the literature is begging these questions:

1. Should the PFD petition the State of Illinois and the Peoria Area EMS (PAEMS) to allow their paramedics to give advanced life support at the scene of a medical emergency? When the PFD arrives before Advanced Medical Transport (AMT) and the paramedic firemen cannot do anything but provide Basic service, that seems suboptimal if one reads and believes the medical literature regarding patients who suffer from cardiac arrest.

2. Should AMT cut their staff of paramedics so as not to dilute the skills of their own paramedics? And if the PFD paramedics were allowed to function as paramedics, less AMT paramedics may be desirable.

Peoria's City Council and PAEMS have to decide what is more important--the business and money generated by AMT or quality of pre hospital patient care in central Illinois.

A Byte Out Of Poverty

Peoria Journal Star
Tuesday, June 19, 2007

"Humanity's greatest advances are not in its discoveries, but in how those discoveries are applied to reduce inequity. Whether through democracy, strong public education, quality health care, or broad economic opportunity, reducing inequity is the highest human achievement."

That's a pretty powerful quote. And this altruistic appeal originates not from a preacher or presidential candidate but from a software engineer named William Henry Gates III - better known as "Bill."

The Microsoft mogul recently addressed the graduating class of Harvard, the Ivy League school he famously quit to pursue his passion for computers. After accepting an honorary degree, Gates joked he was glad to finally get his diploma. But jokes aside, this commencement address transcended the usual fodder college grads hear. It was revelatory, honest, a humanitarian call to arms.

The 52-year-old Gates admitted he left campus in the mid-1970s "with no real awareness of the awful inequities in the world - the appalling disparities of health, and wealth, and opportunity that condemn millions of people to lives of despair." It took him "decades to find out" that others, especially in developing nations, were getting substandard schooling, enduring hunger or dying of treatable illnesses like malaria and measles - not of their own fault, but because both private and public sectors had failed them.

In revisiting his naivete, Gates urged not only graduates but also Harvard as an institution to "make market forces work better for the poor" and use "creative capitalism . . . so that more people can make a profit, or at least make a living." In addition, citizens should "press governments around the world to spend taxpayer money in ways that better reflect the values of the people who pay the taxes."

Gates should know something about values. The man who tops Forbes' billionaires list has, along with wife Melinda, thrown himself into philanthropy. His foundation, with an endowment of $33 billion, has given millions in grants to fund the kind of "teach a man to fish" initiatives he referenced in his speech: college scholarships, public school curriculum support, access to vaccines and, of course, money to bridge the digital divide. Like Warren Buffett, another billionaire benefactor, Gates seems to have realized money is only as good as the man who makes it, and that wealth and position can motivate others - politicians, businesses, the media - to pay attention to those less fortunate.

In his late middle age, the world's richest man has dedicated his time to the world's poorest people. Ironic, yes, but nicely so. Would that those of us mere mortals with more modest means but equally generous spirit follow suit.



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My comment:

The PJS editorial states, “…Gates seems to have realized that money is only as good as the man who makes it, and that wealth and position can motivate others—politicians, businesses, the media—to pay attention to those less fortunate.”

Why isn’t the Journal Star “paying attention” to those less fortunate that have lived right here in Peoria? I wonder what the Journal Star thinks of OSF’s refusal to take care of Haitian Hearts patients that have been treated at OSF in the past and now need further heart surgery to stay alive.

Haitians kids are dying because of OSF’s refusal to care for their patients. Gates’ cry for reducing inequity as the “highest human achievement” generates no action in Peoria for Haitians, only written words.

The Cuban Experience

“It is increasingly rare for many of us to believe that people can be poor, but honest; poor, but deserving of respect. Poverty is no longer blamed on anyone but the poor themselves. Contempt for the poor has become virtue.”

John Cardinal O’Connor
Archbishop of New York

After working a fair number of years in Haiti, I think that Haiti’s medical problems are solvable. All problems in Haiti are solvable, but this post regards how adopting certain aspects of Cuba's health system could help Haiti and, quite possibly, improve the lives of certain poor populations in the United States.

The International Journal of Epidemiology published an article in August, 2006: “Health in Cuba”. It is written by Richard Cooper, Joan Kennelly, and Pedro Ordunez-Garcia.

The authors write that no matter what one believes about the politics of Cuba, there is a lesson to be learned regarding Cuba’s health care system. And with just a little water separating Cuba from Haiti, my very small mind asks, why can’t Haiti adopt some of Cuba’s life saving public health measures?

The article reports that the word needs to disseminate that Cuba has done something very worthwhile regarding health care.

The abstract of the paper states:

“The poorer countries of the world continue to struggle with an enormous health burden from diseases that we have long had the capacity to eliminate. Similarly, the health systems of some countries, rich and poor alike, are fragmented and inefficient, leaving many population groups underserved and often without health care access entirely.

"Cuba represents an important alternative example where modest infrastructure investments combined with a well developed public health strategy have generated health status measures comparable with those of industrialized countries. Areas of success include control of infectious diseases, reduction in infant mortality, establishment of a research and biotechnology industry, and progress in control of chronic diseases, among others.

"If the Cuban experience were generalized to other poor and middle income countries, human health would be transformed. Given current political alignments, however, the major public health advances in Cuba, and the underlying strategy that has guided its health gains, have been systematically ignored.”

The authors are saying that the biomedical literature in English has been almost entirely silent on the Cuban health experience and Cuban health revolution since 1959. They think that an open discussion should take place on the potential lessons to be learned from the Cuban medical experience because the “raison d’etre of the health sciences is the discovery of new knowledge and the use of that knowledge to improve health”.

In 1991 the Soviet Union withdrew economic support for Cuba. The authors refer to this as an “abrupt economic disruption”. However, they noted, “The impact on health indices was relatively modest and short-lived, however, further demonstrating that economic measures alone are poor predictors of physical well-being within a society. One potential explanation of this anomalous pattern may be the relative absence of extreme poverty, which is the most powerful economic correlate of ill health and can confound the effect of average Gross National Product (GNP). Cuba has a high degree of income equality and lacks the marginalized slum populations of most of Latin America, although the growing dependence of the tourist economy and, to a lesser extent, foreign remittances has widened the income distribution”.

Regarding the infant mortality rate, the article reports, “Since 2002 Cuba has had the second lowest infant mortality in the Americas, 20% below the US rate for all ethnic groups and just below the rate for US whites... Thirty-five per cent of the Cuban population is black or mulatto, yet the infant mortality rate are less than half of what is observed in the US black.”

“In terms of child survival, a ‘continuum of care’ that provides for the pre-conceptional health of women, prenatal care, skilled birth attendants, and a comprehensive well-baby program can quickly reduce infant mortality to levels approaching the biological minimum. Many observers will regard these propositions as reasonable, yet hopelessly too ambitious for the poorer nations of the world, It must be recognized, however, that these principles have been successfully implemented in Cuba at a cost well within the reach of most middle-income countries.”

I have had a number of young mothers in Haiti bring in their newborns that they delivered alone at home lying on their dirt floor. One mother told me that when her newborn cried immediately after delivery, the neighbor man next door heard the baby’s cry, and rushed over and cut the baby’s cord. This neighbor man could be considered a concerned person, but hardly a “skilled birth attendant”, which almost all Cuban mothers have during labor. This scenario in Haiti is absurd and wrong and could and should be fixed.

I think the real problem is fear. How much will the gran mange in Haiti have to give up for the vast poor underclass in Haiti can live like humans? How much will the well-to-do in the United States have to give up for our poor health care statistics to improve? Probably very little. And all social classes in Haiti and the United States would live stronger and more productive lives if the slightest amount of compassion, energy, and action were directed for the benefit of the poor.

The Cuban story regarding improving the health of its population needs to get out and be implemented in resource rich and resource poor countries whose people suffer from health care inequalities.

Luke--Part 2

Luke underwent his tests yesterday at OSF in Peoria.

The tests reveal that he has a large kidney stone in his right kidney that will need to be removed so that it does not obstruct and further injure his kidney.

The stone probably formed due his severe malnutrition several years ago in Haiti with infection possibly playing a role.

The medical care that he received yesterday from the nurses and physicians was excellent.

Luke spent approximately 30-40 minutes in the operating room where the procedure and xrays were obtained. No surgery was performed. He entered the operating room at about 9 AM and was discharged to home at 11:10 AM.

OSF's charges for the above are $9,500. The physicians charges are not included.

I asked OSF for an itemized bill so we can see how this breaks down. Will post the bill when I receive it.

Haitian Has Heart Surgery At Provena St. Joseph

Marie Amazan, a 24 year old Haitian Hearts patient, received two new heart valves at Provena St. Joseph Medical Center in Joliet, Illinois. See Press Release. Provena St. Joseph provided their medical center pro bono as they did for four previous Haitian Hearts patients.

Dr. Bryan Foy performed the delicate heart surgery and Dr. Kinder placed a permanent pacemaker. All physicians involved in Marie's care provided their services at no charge.

Marie is from Carefour Feuilles in Port-au-Prince. She lives in a crowded two room house on the side of a steep hill. Many family members live with her. She has six older sisters and no brothers. Her father is dead.

Her family does not eat everyday due to the poverty of Haiti and her neighborhood can be dangerous with the gang and political violence that plagues much of Port-au-Prince.

Marie has been unable to do much for many years due to congestive heart failure. She could mop the floor and make her bed, but that was about it.

This week, Marie was discharged from the hospital and is improving everyday. A Cardiovascular Intensive Care nurse, Anita, has been supervising Marie's outpatient medical care and transportation since discharge from the hospital.

Marie was given a chance by Provena St. Joseph and its physicians and nursing staff. Haitian Hearts cannot thank all of you enough.
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See more about Marie's recovery as reported in Chicago at ABC News.

Luke

My wife and I adopted a Haitian boy last year. We named him Luke and we think he is about four years old. We brought him to the United States in February, 2007.

This post will be added to as the days and weeks roll by regarding Luke's medical saga at OSF in Peoria.

Several months ago Luke developed a medical problem. He has gross hematuria which means he is passing blood in his urine.

We did some blood tests at a local lab that is run by a lady named Joyce Harmon. After Joyce would take Luke's blood, she would kiss him, to help melt away his pain and trauma that he felt he did not deserve. Joyce charges very little for her blood tests and her lab is more a labor of love than a way for her to make any real money.

Other than the blood in his urine, Luke's blood tests were normal.

At that point, we decided to do a sonogram of Luke's kidneys. The sonogram was done at OSF in Peoria and OSF charged us $700.00 dollars for this test. The radiology group read his sono for no fee.

The sono revealed that Luke has kidney stones in his right kidney with an obstruction somewhere in his collecting system.

Several weeks later, Luke had his appointment with a pediatric urologist in Peoria who is very competent and we trust.

More tests were ordered.

On June 7, 2007 we received a letter from OSF-SFMC that stated, "As a service to you we have verified your insurance coverage; however, verification of benefits is not a guarantee of payment by your insurance company that all services rendered will be covered. Based upon this verification, your estimate/deposit for this visit will be $875.00 due upon registratiion. Your payment options are credit card, cash, or personal check."

What the above means, is that OSF-SFMC wants their money as soon as possible. The $875.00 is for a lasix radionuclide scan of Luke's kidney. Like the kidney sonography bill of $700.00, these bills are not covered by our insurance and do not come off our deductible.

So I spoke with the pediatric urology office and we cancelled the lasix radionuclide scan.

On Friday, June 15, Luke is scheduled to have a cystoscopy with retrograde pyelograms performed under a general anesthesia as an outpatient at OSF.

Patient Accounts at OSF called my wife today and stated that OSF charges for the cystoscopy will be $4,598.00 and the charges for the retrograde pyelogram (squirting some dye up the ureters during the cystoscopy), will be $4,903.00. These tests should take between 30-45 minutes in the operating room.

The pediatric urology fees and anesthesiology fees are unknown at this time.

After we meet our deductible of $2,500.00 and add $1,000.00 more, Blue Cross/Blue Shield will cover the rest...we think. OSF advised my wife today to bring $1,600.00 cash on Friday morning at 7 AM to get things started off on the right foot for OSF, the Catholic medical center with a "commitment to life".

OSF's Commitment to Life?

My wife was being cared for by an OSF health care provider last fall. E-mails between the OSF provider and my wife were blocked. They could not communicate with each other over medical issues while we were in Haiti.

The OSF provider was stunned to realize this especially when we did a “test run” to see if we received each other’s e mails. No e-mails were received by either party when sent through the OSF account.

What can this OSF provider do? Nothing if this individual wants to keep her job.

It seems that both my wife’s account and my account to OSF and from OSF employees to us have been blocked by OSF. Dr. Gerry McShane indicated this as I posted in the past. Dr. McShane told me last spring that he was not receiving my e-mails.

I have sent e-mails to OSF Corporate and to OSF's Administrative team and legal counsel pleading for the lives of Haitian Heart's children to allow them to return to OSF for further care.

I do not believe that Dr. McShane and others want other members of Corporate or any OSF employee seeing the content of my electronic communication.

Our four year old son will soon have surgery at OSF. Will the e-mails continue to be blocked by OSF regarding my son’s medical care too? The physician who will operate our son works out of OSF-Children’s Hospital of Illinois.

The Value Statements at OSF are being ignored. Statement number four, “Collaboration with each other, with physicians, and with other providers to deliver comprehensive, integrated and quality health care. Statement number seven, “Open and honest communication to foster trust relationships among ourselves and with those we serve.”

OSF’s hypocrisy regarding its Value Statements is not ethical and could indeed be dangerous.

Milestone for Generosity?

A Milestone for Generosity
Friday, June 8, 2007

OSF Saint Francis Medical Center's plan to improve care for its youngest patients seems to have touched the community. Donations are pouring in by the millions.
First came CEFCU, which in February pledged $1 million toward a new pediatric emergency department for the Children's Hospital of Illinois.

In April came $500,000 from Lynn and Susan McPheeters to help fund construction of the hospital's neonatal intensive care unit. Lynn McPheeters, whose daughters were born at St. Francis, is a former president of the hospital's foundation council.

Then RLI Corp. founder Jerry Stephens and his wife, Helen, donated $5 million for the neonatal ICU. Stephens told reporters he had long admired the standard of care at St. Francis. He also revealed that his only brother had died from spinal meningitis and he hoped to spare other families such grief.

All of this generosity is remarkable, especially since OSF isn't running a public campaign for its "Milestone Project" - a $234 million, eight-story building going up at its Downtown campus. In addition to the Children's Hospital, that building will have ground-floor space for Peoria's St. Jude cancer clinic affiliate, to be named after longtime St. Jude crusader and former Peoria Mayor Jim Maloof.

Perhaps local folks just have a soft spot for children, whom nobody wants to see suffer from treatable diseases.

Perhaps it's because Peorians feel that OSF's project, along with a $350 million makeover of Methodist Medical Center, will solidify the city's reputation as downstate's premier medical community. Or perhaps it's simply because people recognize that extraordinary beneficence has a way of paying its own, intangible rewards.



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There are 4 comments:

John A. Carroll, MD – Peoria, Illinois
June 09, 2007 - 22:49
Subject: Peoria's Medical Mafia

The Journal Star editorial reports the millions of dollars given to OSF from people in the area. Their generosity is inspiring.

However, will the funds be put to the best possible use by OSF? Will OSF Corporate and OSF-SFMC Administration follow the founding Sisters mission philosophy?

Probably not.

Haitian Hearts donated over 1.1 million dollars to Children’s Hospital of Illinois over the years for inpatient care for Haitian children. Our patients that were operated at OSF several years ago have been rejected at OSF for repeat heart surgery with full and partial charges offered for their care. Two have died. More will die soon unless OSF follows their mission statements.

There is significant fear in the Peoria community by individuals and institutions. To criticize OSF in a public forum with one’s name attached is not what people usually want to do. An individual contributor to OSF, one that OSF has privately courted for years, implied to me that she feared for her medical safety if she was publicly critical of OSF. (She has chronic medical problems.) This individual has strong reservations about OSF’s current leadership but is afraid to say so. Her fear really says something significant about OSF and would sadden the Sisters.

Also, the Journal Star and the Catholic Post have not reported OSF’s negligence of dying Haitian children and the obscene discrimination leveled against these children. The coverage of OSF’s 500 million dollar expansion and creation of jobs for the Peoria area has been more important to these two newspapers for reasons that are apparent to anyone who lives in central Illinois.

John A. Carroll, MD

Woodford Pundit
June 08, 2007 - 17:36
Subject: All right . . .
Now that we've vented our hatred . . .

Cudos to JMD
June 08, 2007 - 09:49
Subject:
The good sisters of the third order are the crookedest bunch of "well you know what" that ever predatated in the business world.

They do NO charity. They will demand others "share the wealth" as they refer to it. If you cannot tell I know what nuns are REALLY like.

jmd
June 08, 2007 - 08:42
Subject:
If they really cared about patient care - they would drop their vastly inflated pricing schedule.

Cardiac Arrest and Peoria

In March 2007, Mickey Eisenberg, MD, PhD wrote an article “Improving Survival from Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest: Back to the Basics”. It was published in Annals of Emergency Medicine.

The article states:

“A 2005 study by Rea et al summarized the cardiac arrest experience of 35 communities, representing 9% of the US population. Overall, the discharge survival rate for all cardiac arrests was 8.4%, and for ventricular fibrillation, 17.7%. Using these figures and projecting to the entire US population, the study estimated that 13,000 Americans are discharged every year after cardiac arrest. The 35 communities reported a range of discharge survival rates from ventricular fibrillation of 3.3% to 40.5%, a 12-fold difference.”

I wonder what Peoria’s “numbers” are? How does Peoria do compared to these 35 studied communities?

Several years ago, as documented on www.peoriasmedicalmafia.com, I was unable to access any statistics from the Peoria Area EMS office at OSF or from our local IDPH office. The Matrix study that looked at fire and prehospital care in Peoria (and charged the City of Peoria $79,000 for their consulting efforts) did not publish any statistics regarding how Peoria’s prehospital patients did after suffering cardiac arrest or ventricular fibrillation.

Interestingly, Dr. Eisenberg was a co-author of a paper published in Prehospital Emergency Care, October 2004. The title is “Time to Intubation and Survival in Prehospital Cardiac Arrest”.

Quoting from the article’s introduction:

“In this study, we measured the interval from collapse until intubation in cardiac arrest over a 12-year period and compared this variable with survival.

…a correlation between intubation and survival would be an additional argument that advanced life support systems employing paramedics can significantly reduce mortality over non-intubation systems, which are common. Our purpose was to examine whether shorter time from collapse until intubation is associated with greater survival in prehospital cardiac arrest.”

In Peoria, the Peoria Fire Department paramedics are not allowed to intubate a patient unless asked to do so by Advanced Medical Transport.

The results of Eisenberg’s study revealed that in the quick intubation group (intubation time <12 minutes), 46% of the patients survived; in the slow intubation group (intubation time >13 minutes), 23% of the patients survived.

The mean interval time from collapse to intubation in the “quick” intubation group was 10.0 +/- 1.7 minutes.

What would be the outcome if the intubation time could be decreased even more? Would there be more survivors? Eisenberg’s study and common sense would say yes.

But how will we know in Peoria where we don’t have access to statistics and the PFD’s hands are tied as they are unable to perform quick and possibly life saving intubation of Peoria’s prehospital cardiac arrest victims?

Peoria is Corrupt

The New England Journal of Medicine had an article this week regarding employing paramedics with advanced life support techniques for out-of-hospital patients suffering from respiratory distress.

The conclusion was that the rate of death among all patients (over 8,000 studied) decreased significantly from the basic-life-support phase to the advanced-life-support phase.

The study was performed in Canada and is part of the OPALS large multicenter clinical trial. The study was conducted in 15 cities in Ontario.

The advanced life support was given by primary care Paramedics who were trained to perform endotracheal intubation, insert IV lines, and administer IV medications.

Even though the Peoria Fire Department has Paramedics and Intermediates that are trained to do advanced life support, they are not allowed to use their skills unless Advanced Medical Transport in Peoria asks them for their help.

The study discusses the cost of training primary Paramedics to give advanced life support for patients in respiratory distress. In Peoria, we have Peoria Fire Department Paramedics that already are trained in these techniques.

An important issue in Peoria is the cost of pre hospital services versus the value of a human life. The study discusses the cost of training primary paramedics in Canada to give advanced life support for patients in respiratory distress. In Peoria, we have Peoria Fire Department Paramedics who are already trained in these techniques and, most of the time, are not allowed to use their skills.

With the conflict of interest in Peoria that gives the nod to Advanced Medical Transport, it is difficult for policy makers and physicians who control Emergency Medical Services to look at this issue objectively.

It is a shame that the Peoria Fire Department is not giving advanced life support to patients that call 9-1-1 with shortness of breath. The OPALS study indicates that advanced support for these patients may save their lives.

Mauricio

Dear Bishop Jenky and Sister Judith Ann,

Mauricio is a six month old Haitian baby with Tetrology of Fallot. I examined him two days ago in Port-au-Prince. He was born with four abnormalities of his heart which make it difficult for him to pump blood to his lungs. Most children in the developing world do not reach age 20 years with this congential problem.

Please contact as many medical centers that you can to help save his life. He needs surgery which can be done at a good pediatric children's hospital that performs cardiac surgery.

Haitian Hearts will bring him to the United States and back to Haiti when his recovery is complete. His Haitian parents will be very grateful.

Sincerely,

John

Hard to Believe

Health services eye Marshall County
Medically underserved area could receive clinic

Friday, May 11, 2007

BY GARY L. SMITH
OF THE JOURNAL STAR

LACON - Because Marshall County has been designated a medically underserved area, two organizations are looking into the possibility of establishing a community health clinic in the area, the County Board was told Thursday.

A Chicago-area organization and another from southern Illinois are thinking of trying to open a federally qualified health-care center that could serve uninsured and low-income people as well as other residents, said Gene Huber, director of finance for the Peoria City/County Health Department. Marshall County's department is also administered by the Peoria agency.

An operation of that type in the Peoria area, Heartland Health Care, has decided not to pursue one here because of "political reasons" arising from the January opening of a new Methodist Medical Group Family Practice clinic in Lacon, Huber said. That facility, which has a full-time physician and nurse practitioner, replaced one that had closed a year earlier in rented space.

"Methodist was not in favor" of a community clinic in Marshall County, Huber told the board.

The interested Chicago-area group is Aunt Martha's Healthcare Network, a not-for-profit organization providing health care and social services in eight collar counties. The identity of the other organization was not available.

The Peoria clinic "thought it was kind of stepping on toes" in Marshall County, Huber said, "whereas these outside entities are not worried about that."

The county's status as underserved, which is shared by many others, was last updated in September, according to a Web site of the Illinois Department of Public Health's Center for Rural Health. Brian Tun, director of health promotion for the Peoria Health Department, said later that it's not certain whether that could be affected by the Methodist clinic.

But Tun said the designation arises from consideration of many factors besides the number of physicians or other providers, including the population and geographic size of an area, and the distance people have to travel for care.


________________________________________

Haitians Don't Throw Fastballs

Since the beginning of this year, hundreds of Haitians have left Haiti in rickety boats. No one knows how many have drowned or have been eaten by sharks.

In April, 704 Haitian migrants were stopped by the Coast Guard and hundreds have been returned to Port-au-Prince.

Unlike their Cuban neighbors, Haitians don't usually vote Republican and Haitian fastballs are not near as accurate as Cuban baseball players throw.

The U.S. does not want Haitians here.

Addressing 1,200 mourners in an emotional and politically charged service in south Florida, the Rev. Reginald Jean-Mary eulogized Lifaite Lully, 24, who drowned trying to reach the U.S. in a boat carrying 102 Haitian refugees:

"We have come to mourn the death of hope. This young man was....in search of security and freedom and meaning in his life."

Bishop Jenky's Five Years

The Peoria Journal Star recently published an article on Bishop Daniel Jenky’s first five years as Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Peoria. Bishop Jenky declined to be interviewed for the article and would not allow other Diocesan officials to be interviewed. Fr. Mike Bliss, OSF chaplain, was picked by the Diocese to be quoted regarding the Bishop’s first five years.

Bishop Jenky is spiritual head of almost 200,000 Catholics in the Diocese of Peoria.

In his first five years the Journal listed Bishop Jenky's number one accomplishment was leading a successful capital campaign. 37 million dollars was raised by the Diocese. The majority of these funds are going to Catholic school scholarships and other educational efforts.

The Journal also stated that he has spearheaded plans for a new diocesan center near downtown Peoria. Bishop Jenky also refurbished the Cathedral and a photo shows the Bishop in the Chancery showing "Victorian steps, curving French Renaissance stairways and historic pieces".

Unfortunately, in 2003, Bishop Jenky gave into OSF, as OSF withdrew all support for Haitian children dying of heart disease. Haitian Hearts patients, that were treated at OSF in the past, have not been able to return to OSF, and some have died. Bishop Jenky could have helped find other medical centers to care for sick Haitian kids, but he did not. Based on my conversation with him, I think he is afraid of the power and wealth at OSF. It would be interesting to know how much OSF contributed to the Diocesan capital campaign.

I am sure Bishop Jenky has accomplished good things in his first five years in Peoria. However, advocating and supporting Haitian kids dying of heart disease is not one of them.

Physician-Industry Relationships

When Dr. George Hevesy was Project Medical Director at OSF, he was salaried by Advanced Medical Transport and OSF. Many in the central Illinois area considered this conflict of interest.

The New England Journal of Medicine (April 26, 2007) recently had an article titled Survey of Physician-Industry Relationships.

There are numerous "take-home" points from this article:

1. More than one-quarter of the physicians surveyed received payments for consulting, giving lectures, or enrolling patients in trials.

2. The possibility that companies may target opinion leaders for marketing is further suggested by the higher frequency of industry payments to physicians who have developed clinical practice guidelines and to those who have served as preceptors for doctors in training.

3. The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America implemented a code of conduct. This code states that the interactions between company representatives and physicians should primarily benefit patients and enhance the practice of medicine.

4. ...the high prevalence of physician-industry relationships underscores the need to consider their implications carefully.

OSF's Charity Assistance Did Not Include Jean-Baptiste

The following is from the Children's Hospital of Illinois website. Jackson Jean- Baptiste was denied care at Children's Hospital.

Jackson is buried in Goodfield, Illinois.


Charity Assistance
(309) 686-6700
(800) 421-5700

Dear Patient:

The philosophy of OSF HealthCare is that all people have a right to receive needed health care. Our doors are open to persons of every faith and ethnic background regardless of their ability to pay.

We provide help to patients in obtaining payment from third parties such as Medicaid and Medicare. If you are eligible for Medicaid, and you are not currently signed up, we can help you apply.

We also offer charity assistance for medically necessary healthcare services to persons who meet our financial terms provided they submit the needed documents. OSF Charity Assistance may be applied for when there is a balance still due on an account after we have received payment from third party payers (like Medicaid, Medicare or an insurance company) and you feel you cannot pay the full balance.

The PDF form available through the link below must be completed and signed by you. We use income guidelines established by the U. S. Dept. of Health and Human Services to determine if you are eligible for charity care. We do verify assets regarding your eligibility. So, please provide all the information promptly so we may try to help you as quickly as possible.

For more information, please call your patient accounts representative between the hours of 8am and 4:30pm Monday through Friday at 309-686-6700 or 800-421-5700.

OSF HealthCare offers high quality healthcare and we were pleased to provide that to your family. We look forward to working with you further to make sure the financial aspects of your care are handled in the same high quality way.

Sincerely,
The Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis

Click below to download or print the OSF Charity Assistance PDF form.

English Version
Spanish Version










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Virginia Tech and Peoria's EMS

Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Peoria Journal Star Editorial

Virginia Tech is known as a football and engineering school, but never have so many Monday-morning quarterbacks descended upon one institution to do so much reconstructing. The worst mass shooting murder in the nation's history was just a few hours old, but already the blame game was in full throttle, going something like this:

Tech administrators waited too long to notify students after the first pair of shooting victims at a college dormitory. They were wrong to view that initial incident as an isolated case of domestic violence. They should have locked down campus and canceled classes immediately. They should have evacuated all 26,000 students, 10,000 employees, thousands of visitors. E-mails were a poor way of communicating with students; they should have been notified of the danger by cell phone. All involved should resign.

This might not have happened at all if someone had intervened more forcefully with Cho Seung-Hui, the 23-year-old South Korean identified as the shooter and described as "troubled" and a "loner." Perhaps the senior English major's professors should have done more than refer him to a counselor when they read some of his disturbing writings. Maybe his roommate should have seen this coming. Maybe his doctor should have red-flagged university officials, since Cho reportedly was on medication for depression. Maybe immigration officials never should have let his family into the country in the first place ... back in 1992. This just goes to show that it's too easy to get a gun in Virginia. This just goes to show it should be easier to get a gun in Virginia. We've just begun to mourn the 32 victims - we don't even know all their names - yet already there's talk of lawsuits.

No wonder VT Police Chief Wendell Flinchum seemed exasperated: "You can second-guess all day. We acted on the best information we had at the time." And maybe the critics should focus on the guy who pulled the trigger.

Virginia Tech officials and police were damned if they did and damned if they didn't Monday, which is why the only fair response to their decision-making was the one given by Bradley University Vice President Gary Anna on Tuesday: "It's too early" to say what lessons can be derived from this massacre.

Of course the Blacksburg, Va., situation has heightened awareness in Peoria, where Bradley has emergency protocols in place, said Anna. Those include general response parameters, but it still comes down to "a judgment call," because every case is unique, he said.

"It is just so unsettling because our young people are under a lot of pressure and it's just hard sometimes to anticipate what might trigger something like that," said Anna. Bradley would go on lockdown immediately "if we had a discharge of firearms in any part of the campus and had any reason to doubt whether or not the person had been apprehended," he said. "It's just not worth putting in harm's way an 18- to 22-year-old."

But Anna acknowledges that the dynamics are very different at BU's much more concentrated campus, home to approximately 6,000, mostly residential students compared to more than four times that number - including a significant percentage of commuters - at sprawling VT. BU officials are looking at some different form of alarm system beyond the standard emails or residence hall staff going door to door, perhaps using their electronic carillon system. Even then, there's no guarantee that college students "with their own sense of immunity" will listen, said Anna.

Bradley's full-time police force of some 15 members continues to do its job, but it's "not as if you can put an armed guard at every building entrance," he said.
Parents may not want to hear it - who can blame them? - but in fact all of us live with a degree of risk. While we can no longer say that slaughters such as these are incomprehensible, it's impossible to plan for every conceivable nightmare.

Our "monsters" don't necessarily look the part. It seems to be coded into America's DNA that we need answers to our tragedies now, cause and effect wrapped up neatly in a two-hour, made-for-TV movie. We may never know why.

What we do know is that there was heroism mixed in with the horrific in Blacksburg, and that we will learn from this, as we learned from Columbine, in time.

________________________________________

There is 1 comment
John A. Carroll, M.D.
April 18, 2007 - 12:07
Subject: Mass Casualty
The Journal Star editorial is asking: What can be learned from the disaster at Virginia Tech?

What if this massacre had occurred at Bradley University in Peoria?

Peoria’s EMS system would be inadequate to suddenly care for 48 injured people. The Peoria Fire Department is Basic Life Support-D with Basic drugs. They cannot provide paramedic service for Peoria. They have no ambulances and cannot transport patients. Transport may be the single most important issue with severe trauma.

Advanced Medical Transport is the only paramedic transport agency in Peoria. If they responded to a mass casualty who would cover the rest of Peoria for people that call 911 with significant medical emergencies?

Madame Therese

The lady in the photo holding the baby is Madame Therese. She remembers growing up in the Les Cayes area in southern Haiti. Her life was good.

Her family had a garden and they had enough to eat. They were happy. A bag of cement was not near as expensive as it is today.

She lives in Port-au-Prince now. She is afraid now. She was never afraid while she was growing up.

Notice her eyes are glistening. Madame Therese prays five times per day for her family and for Haiti. She still has hope for Haiti.

I believe the Madame Therese's of the world keep the world afloat. She is filled with faith. It is not the politicians or monsignors that are keeping Haiti from sinking into the ocean; it is Madame Therese.


"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?

"Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other poeple won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.

"It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we uncounsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

Marianne Williamson

Vicarious Grief

"According to Chochinov, there are a couple of catches to vicarious grief. The less the victims resemble us, the less grief we feel. And we don't seem to feel this grief as acutely for those who suffer from chronic problems, which often have their common denominator in poverty."

Maria King

Gorillas Receive Better Care than Haitians

Gorillas in Brookfield Zoo near Chicago receive much better care than most Haitians in Haiti.

First of all, the gorillas are fed every day. And they drink clean water. Gorillas don’t worry about when their next meal will be. On the contrary, the majority of Haitians are obsessed every day obtaining any food or clean water for their families.

Gorillas are moved between zoos in the United States for breeding purposes. We want to protect the future of their species. When Haitians flee the poverty in Haiti in pathetic boats and wash up on our shore, we return them to their island of misery. We don’t seem as concerned about their future.

When gorillas become ill, they receive much better medical care than the Haitians trapped in the slum or living in Haiti’s vast barren mountain ranges.

A gorilla named Chicory at the Brookfield Zoo displayed neurologic signs. An MRI was promptly done which revealed a large brain tumor on the right side. The brain tumor was removed and Chicory made a complete recovery.

When a poor Haitian gets a brain tumor, he doesn't get an MRI or surgery. He dies.

Heart disease affects many gorillas. The picture shows a gorilla's echocardiogram. Obtaining an echocardiogram and surgery for Haitian children dying of congential heart disease is much more difficult than it would be for a gorilla living near Chicago.

Maxime, Jackson, and Peoria's Makeover

Maxime, in front of the National Palace in Port-au-Prince, December, 2006.

Haitian kids like Maxime and Jackson continue to die while Peoria will spend an estimated $850 million during the next 10 years to "makeover" their two main medical center campuses. The medical centers are located one block from each other.

See editoral in the Peoria Journal Star regarding this expansion. Also, note that no mention is made of Maxime or Jackson.

Justice and Injustice

Liberation theologists theory of justice begins from the experience of injustice. It is rooted in reflection on the dismal poverty that submerges the majority of Latin Americans in conditions of inhuman wretchedness.

“Justice, says Sobrino, takes seriously the primordial fact of the created world in its given form; that is to say, it takes seriously the existence of the oppressed majorities. The existence of these majorities is not a fact that can be lightly passed over in speaking of the essence of the Christian message.”

Likewise, Segundo Galilea asserts that the starting point of liberation theology’s reflection is the present situation, in which “the vast majority of Latin Americans live in a state of underdevelopment and unjust dependence.”

Justice, the liberationists insist, demands that conflict be brought into the open and faced, not subsumed or denied.

Justice demands that one enter the fray, that one enter into conflict and choose sides for some and against others. As Gutierrez observes, those who seek justice cannot avoid conflict because in a society scarred by injustice and the exploitation of one social class by another, the proclamation of justice will transform history into something challenging and conflictual.

Social conflict is a reality that the liberationists, as long as they do not avert their eyes from the misery and squalor that surrounds them, cannot escape.

However, when liberationists highlight the connection between the struggle for justice and social conflict, they are not blessing conflict. They do not believe that justice can come only at the point of a sword or through the barrel of a gun. On the contrary social conflict is ultimately the product of sin; it is the historical consequence of collective sin.

Humanity need not live in conflict; persons do not need to oppress their sisters and brothers. Conflict need not be sublimated or denied; it can be resolved. The resolution of social conflict, in fact, is precisely why the liberationists give conflict such a prominent position in their work. They seek to resolve it by uncovering and then eliminating the cause for the conflict, namely injustice.

From “Liberation Theology After the End of History—The Refusal to Cease Suffering” by Daniel M. Bell, Jr.

Haiti's Plague is Poverty

The Haitian baby to the right presented with seizures, fever, bulging tense fontanelle, primitive neurologic reflex at his right hand, and eye deviation to the right. He quickly became mottled and more lethargic. He was treated quickly with IM ceftriaxone and steroids. He was comatose for several days, but woke up and began interacting and eating. Most Haitian babies don't do this well with bacterial meningitis.

WHO estimates that about 1.6 million people, including up to 1 million children under 5 years old, die every year of pneumococcal pneumonia, meningitis, and sepsis. In populations with high child-mortality rates like Haiti, pneumonia is the leading infectious cause of mortality and accounts for about 20-25% of all child deaths. In these populations, Streptococcus pneumoniae is identified consistently as the leeading cause of bacterial pneumonia, and pneumoccal bacteremia is an important cause of child mortality. HIV infection increases risk for pneumococcal disease 20-40 fold, and antibiotic resistance makes threatment difficult and expensive. Thus pneumococcal idsease is a major global-health issue.

Haitian poor children are only given the standard vaccines. They do not get pneumococcal vaccines. If any group of children need the pneumoccal vaccines it is the Haitian children.

Pneumococcal conjugate vaccines can prevent most serious pneumoccal disease. The seven to 13 serotypes included in conjugate pneumoccal vaccines are expected to prevent 50-80% of all pediatric pneumococcal disease worldwide.

Also, the decline in disease in unvaccinated people is accounted for by the reduction in colonisation in vaccinated children and thus decreased transmission to unvaccinated contacts. In the USA, this herd immunity effect prevents twice as many cases as the direct effects of vaccination alone.

Based on studies done in Africa, there is a compelling case for giving pneumoccal vaccination in Haiti. Pneumococcal invasive disease, pneumonia, and meningitis, and a decrease in all cause mortality has been documented.

What are we waiting for?


"Many fledging moralists in those days were going about our town proclaiming that there was nothing to be done about it and we should bow to the inevitable. And Tarrou, Rieux, and their friends might give one answer or another, but its consclusion was always the same, their certitude that a fight must be put up, in this way or that, and there must be no bowing down. The essential thing was to save the greatest possible number of persons from dying and being doomed to unendng separation. And to do this there was only one resource: to fight the plague. There was nothing admirable about this attitude; it was merely logical."

---From The Plague, by Albert Camus

Peoria's Headlines

During the last several days, the headlines of several articles in the Peoria Journal Star have been about Peoria's medical center's expansions.

"Saint Francis Vision Goes Sky High"(March 31, 2007) is an article about OSF's Life Flight air transport using its new 4.3 million dollar helipad for patient transfers to St. Francis. OSF is planning on spending about $500 million dollars on building projects over the next several years.)

Another article the same day was headlined,"Methodist Unveils Vision for $350 Million Renovation". Methodist Medical Center is one block down the street from OSF. "You can't provide 21st century health care in early 20th century buildings," CEO Michael Bryant told the Downtown Rotary Club.

Today (April 3, 2007) a small article was titled, "101 Haitians Who Landed in Florida Likely to be Deported".

The article reported," The United States will probably deport most if not all of the 101 Haitian migrants who landed off a South florida beach last week, a U.S. legislator said Monday, warning other not to risk the dangerous voyage.

"The 101 Haitians, many looking gaunt and exhausted, came ashore Wednesday north of Miami after spending at least three weeks at sea in a dilapidated sailboat. One man died in the crossing and three were taken to the hospital in critical condition."

The articles in the Peoria paper describe the incredible wealth in our world and the incredible hopelessness in the other world.

I have stood on the beaches along the western and southern shores of Haiti and have shuddered at the thought of getting in a "dilapidated sailboat" and leaving. The waters crash into the shore and seem to say, "Don't even think about leaving here." But many courageous Haitians do. They think they have no choice.

We hear of the boat people that make it to our shores, but never hear of the ones that the ocean swallows and delivers them from their misery in Haiti.

The articles in the Peoria paper describe the incredible wealth in our world and the incredible hopelessness in the other world.

I have stood on the beaches along the western and southern shores of Haiti and have shuddered at the thought of getting in a "dilapidated sailboat" and leaving. The waters crash into the shore and seem to say, "Don't even think about leaving here." But many courageous Haitians do. They think they have no choice.

We hear of the boat people that make it to our shores, but never hear of the ones that the ocean swallows and delivers them from their misery in Haiti.

Prayer of St. Francis

Lord make me
an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred,
Let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, Joy.
O divine Master grant that I may
Not so much seek to be consoled
As to console;
To be understood,
As to understand;
To be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned.
And it is in dying that we are
Born to eternal life.
Amen.

Just think if everyone who had any interaction with the Haitian people said this prayer each morning. It would render so much good will and positive actions. There would be so little time wasted with nonsense that keeps the people poor and voiceless. Haitian people would be educated, paid well, and could drink clean water. None of the gran mange anywhere in the world would suffer---they would benefit. The slums could be torn down and Haiti's "boat people" wouldn't want to leave the Pearl of the Antilles. Who would want to?

MINUSTAH could go home and the Diaspora could come back. And the streets of Port-au-Prince could be safely walked in at night.

Why is this so difficult?

A Deafening Cry

(Father Gerry Jean-Juste with parishoner at St. Clare's Church, Port-au-Prince, 2005.)

Perhaps the single most significant event to give impetus to the rise of liberation theology was the Second General conference of Latin American Bishops that met in August of 1968 in Medellin, Colombia. This meeting has been called the “Magna Carta” of liberation theology.

One of the documents on poverty from this conference, written by the bishops, stated the following:

“The Latin American bishops cannot remain indifferent in the face of the tremendous social injustices existent in Latin America, which keep the majority of our peoples in dismal poverty, which in many cases becomes inhuman wretchedness. A deafening cry pours from the throats of millions of men, asking their pastors for a liberation that reaches them from nowhere else.”

According to the documents from Medellin, the situation in Latin America was characterized by “institutionalized violence,” “unjust structures,” “internal colonialism,” and “external neocolonialism.” Together these amount to a “sinful situation” that leaves the Latin American countries dependent on the economic centers of power. In light of this situation, the bishops called for “ an all embracing, courageous, urgent, and profoundly renovating transformation.” The Church was called to “create an eminently Christian task.” The bishops commit the Church to a program of a “new society” in which the human person is “an agent of his own history.” The Church was encouraged to carry Christ’s message of liberation to the poor by becoming a poor Church, by being in solidatrity with the poor and giving “preference to the poorest and most needy sectors.”

In 1971 Gustaveo Gutierrez’s book was written. “A Theology of Liberation” remains the classic statement of the ecclesiological issues at stake in the rise of liberation theology. Critics charged that liberationists were guilty of reducing Christianity to a political ideology—in effect attending to this world while ignoring more “spiritual” concerns proper to the world to come.

Gutierrez wrote in an essay after publication of his book the following:

“One of the oldest themes in the theology of liberation is the totality and complexity of the liberation process. This theology conceives total liberation as a single process, within which it is necessary to distinguish different dimensions or levels: economic liberation, social liberation, political liberation, liberation of the human being from all manner of servitude, liberation from sin, communion with God as the ultimate basis of a human community of brothers and sisters.”

Jon Sobrino, a Jesuit priest in El Salvador, was recently criticized (2007) by the Vatican. Fr. Sobrino is a Spanish born priest and a well known proponent of liberation theology. The Vatican explained, “Father Sobrino manifests a preoccupation for the poor and the oppressed, particularly in Latin America. This preoccupation certainly is shared by the whole church.” The Vatican stated that the church cannot express its preferential option for the poor through “reductive sociological and ideological categories.”

Sobrino has written, “There is terrible injustice in today’s world, one which, slowly or quickly, brings the great majority of humanity closer to death. Justice and truth, therefore, are fundamental and urgent demands.”

According to liberationists, justice is the key concept for the Christian conscience of our day; the promotion of justice is the essential requirement of the Gospel message today. Gutierrez writes, “When justice does not exit, God is not known; God is absent.”

So maybe God IS absent in Haiti. Maybe God is not known here because there sure is very little justice in Haiti.

There also is little justice for Haiti’s Fr. Gerry Jean-Juste. The very priest who lived his life standing up for the poor, and feeding the poor in his parish, is in “exile” once again in Florida. His story is well known. Haiti and his parishioners really need him back.

The aging Latin American priests philosophy of preferential option for the poor wasn't wrong. It is the right and fair thing to do. But when the Jean-Justes of the world are terrorized and shackled and marginated and condemned of crimes they didn’t commit, the poor don't have any option. And when the Church leaders themselves don’t advocate for Jean-Juste, the injustice continues. Ignoring Jean-Juste is ignoring Haiti's "deafening cry" today.

Does this young boy pictured below, living with his family in rural Croix-du-Bouquets, look like he has many options?

(See "Liberation Theology After the End of History--The Refusal to Cease Suffering", by Daniel M. Bell, Jr.)

The First Class Parking Deck

The Peoria Journal Star had an article on March 21, 2007 regarding OSF’s new parking deck. It is an 1,800-spot visitor and patient parking deck. The article reports it is the largest parking deck in Peoria. The deck’s features will include valet service that includes free paring and shuttle cart transportation to the main buildings, as well as heated and air-conditioned stairwells.

The new parking deck costs $37 million dollars. This will accompany the Milestone Project which is OSF’s new 440,000 square foot expansion which will cost $234 million dollars. This Project will include an eight story building with a new Children’s Hospital, as well as an adult cardiac unit, and new emergency and surgery departments.

It is Peoria’s largest building venture ever.

Chris Lofgren, OSF’s spokesman stated, “One of our goals is to eventually have all private rooms." He also noted that OSF is one the verge of acquiring a FOURTH helicopter.

Now consider this:

1. OSF continues to reject former Haitian Hearts/OSF patients for surgery with partial or complete funds offered for their surgeries by Haitian Hearts.

2. Revenues for OSF are in excess of 1.5 billion dollars per year.

3. Revenues for the entire Republic of Haiti in 2003, with a population of 8.3 million people, was less than $300 million dollars.

4. There is approximately 1 physician/6000 people in Haiti’s rural areas. There is 1 physician/400 people in the United States. 40% of Haiti's population has no access to primary health care.

5. Haiti has the highest infant and maternal mortality rates in the western Hemisphere. Haiti is located 90 minutes from Miami by air.

6. 25% of Haitian children are chronically malnourished.

7. Only 50% of Haitian children are vaccinated with the standard vaccines.

8. 75% of births in Haiti are accompanied by non-qualified personnel.

9. There are many Haitian children born with congenital heart disease or who acquire rheumatic heart disease and need surgery. Cardiac surgery is not routinely done in Haiti and never done through the Haitian government for charges that the poor can afford. Serious heart disease in children and adults is virtually a death sentence.


The Journal Star article ended with Lofgren stating that while OSF works on its new project, visitors and patients can enjoy the new deck and its valet services.

“Because of the size of (the deck), it is the right thing to do,” Lofgren said beaming. “This is first class, all the way.”

John Carroll's Posts

In December, 2006, and January, 2007 I posted about 30 posts on a local blog in Peoria. I have compiled those posts and they can be found at John Carroll's Posts.

Most of the titles are highlighted and link back to the blog where comments follow the posts.