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DJP Update 10-10-2005 re Where is our Leadership?
And Grants
ITEM ONE: Response to "Where is our leadership? letter
ITEM TWO: RELIEF FUNDS AVAILABLE FROM AMA, LSMS, AND PARISH MEDICAL
SOCIETIES TO HELP PHYSICIANS REBUILD THEIR PRACTICES
ITEM ONE: Response to "Where is our leadership?" letter
A hero of mine, James E. Brown, MD, who has been a mentor to me throughout
my medical career, recently wrote an email letter that he distributed to
about 40 friends and family members. I called it the "Where is our
leadership letter?" The names of the recipients were given. He was
commenting on another doctor's observations about the problems that
practicing physicians were having in the Katrina devastated areas. This
letter was then reproduced by another physician, Dr. Michael Ellis, a
famous news clipper and a good friend of mine, and the letter was
distributed to his "undisclosed recipients" list without Dr. Brown's name
on it. (Recipient number: Dozens? Hundreds?)
Because my name was mentioned in the distributed letter to known
individuals and then re-circulated to an unknown number of undisclosed
recipients by Dr. Ellis, I believe it appropriate to respond about my
activities post-Katrina and also offer a sampling of my rules of
engagement in a crisis and leadership. The critical issues raised in the
letter deal with allegations that hospitals that remain open in
Katrina-hit areas and surrounding areas are refusing to allow displaced
physicians from destroyed hospitals in the area to join their staffs and
an allegation that "our leadership" is not fixing this alleged problem.
Here is what he said:
Exactly my observations. What a pathetic and miserable showing from a
profession that is devoted to relieving human suffering. Where is our
leadership? Again, I suggest that an emergency declaration by the Governor
be done giving temporary privileges to all physicians in good standing at
their previous hospitals that have been closed. The LSMS should have taken
the lead weeks ago in this matter. Where are you, Pat Breaud? Where are
you Don Palmisano? Where are Floyd Buras? Where are you chiefs of staffs?
At our hospital, which has been closed--Methodist, temporary privileges
were given within hours to known, accepted members of the medical
community who had proper credentials. We were not lawyers who needed time
consuming documentation and arcane affirmations. If we knew the people and
they were respected members of the medical community, privileges were
extended.
It is not too late to rise to the occasion. Please let us not embarras
ourselves with bureaucratic indifference, and yes, perhaps a bit of greed.
jim brown
(Note by DJP: The "Pat Breaud" is no doubt Dr. Pat Breaux, the president
of Orleans Parish Medical Society. Dr. Floyd Buras is the president-elect
of the Louisiana State Medical Society. Both practice in New Orleans and
were hard hit by the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Dr. Buras will be
installed as president of LSMS this Friday at LSMS headquarters as the
annual meeting of LSMS was cancelled. The writer of the email, Dr. Jim
Brown, is a great Greek and Latin scholar and an expert in grammar so any
inaccuracies in his letter are, in my opinion, the result of a quick email
response.)
DJP observations:
First, Don Palmisano is no longer in the elected leadership of AMA, LSMS,
or OPMS. I consider myself in the inactive reserve. I have remained in
contact with our parish, state, and AMA leadership throughout this crisis
and given my advice and offered to help in any way they thought I could
help. I went to the command post in Baton Rouge where FEMA and the other
Federal and State leaders coordinate and gave them my contact information.
Also, throughout this Katrina and Rita crisis, I have worked hard to make
sure that our elected leadership and other key individuals such as the
Jefferson Parish Coroner, Dr. Robert Treuting, and the New Orleans Parish
Coroner, Dr. Frank Minyard, had a way to communicate to their staff and
each other during the inability for phones calls to get through the
"congested due to Hurricane" recording. I personally delivered these
devices, including going through the barricades on the perimeter of New
Orleans immediately after Katrina to get one to Dr. Brobson Lutz, featured
on the front page of the Wall Street Journal, and visiting the morgue
facilities set up at Saint Gabriel, just outside of Baton Rouge.
I found a donor for these communication devices, Blackberries with phone,
email, and nationwide walkie-talkie capability. The donor was The Doctors
Company (TDC) in Napa, California, under the leadership of Dr. Richard
Anderson. (Full disclosure: I am on the board of TDC.) Such phones were
given to Dr. Jim Aiken and his team (7 phones), Dr. Brobson Lutz, who runs
the "French Quarter Medical Clinic in Exile", New Orleans Coroner (4
phones), Jefferson Parish Coroner (2 phones), Mr. Dave Tarver, LSMS
executive director (one phone), Dr. Russell Klein, Speaker of LSMS HOD (1
phone), Dr. Jay Busby, current president of LSMS (1 phone), Dr. Keith
DeSonnier, of AMA delegation and practicing physician in the Lake Charles
area hard-hit by Hurricane Rita, and Dr. Pat Breaux, current president of
OPMS, as well as Susan D"Antoni, executive director of OPMS. I also have
one for delivery today for Dr. Mike Ellis.
Meanwhile, Robin and I continue the arduous task of dealing with the home
insurance issue, meeting with roofers, contractors, etc. to try and
salvage our home and also delivering communicators. We commute from our
temporary living quarters in Baton Rouge. (Thanks to Dr. Larry and Sharon
Braud for this wonderful help for lodging in a family home.) We also
lament now that 3 of our grandkids have moved to Atlanta post-Katrina. Now
that we are home from the 300 day road tour as AMA president and the 249
days of president-elect and 250 days road days of immediate past-president
year, we were looking forward to spending more time with our 6 grandkids.
However, because of Katrina, son Donald Jr. has accepted a job with a law
firm in Atlanta and moved there with his family and 3 of our grandkids are
his kids.
Why spend time writing this letter? Dr. Brown and Dr. Ellis are dear
friends and mean no harm to me. I write to set the record straight
because I am reminded of the words of Cyrano de Bergerac who gave the
advice on one's reputation:
I carry my adornments on my soul.
I do not dress up like a popinjay;
But inwardly, I keep my daintiness.
I do not bear with me, by any chance,
An insult not yet washed away * a conscience
Yellow with unpurged bile * an honor frayed
To rags, a set of scruples badly worn.
(and he goes on to speak of his good name, and making the "sharp truth
ring, like golden spurs!)
Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand (Brian Hooker translation)
So, if you want the leadership to do something for you, communicate it to
them. Bring them the facts. Words mean something but documentation is
critical evidence in preventing anyone from changing their story and
saying "you misunderstood what was said."
As I mention in my "Big A and 25 C's" of risk management lecture ( go to
www.intrepidresources.com )
One of the C's is Confirmation: Memories fad, witnesses lie, and people
die.
Get hospitals to confirm in writing they are refusing to allow you on the
staff. That was the reason I always felt comfortable in debates with the
best of the trial bar: I always was armed with the facts. The truth
documented is a powerful tool. Grousing around the coffee pot is of no
value. I gave this advice to Jim and another colleague who called me
prior to the email letter. I certainly understand the frustration of
documentation but this can be done quickly. You also can document the
refusal to give you something in writing. I know this has been brought to
the attention of one of the JCAHO commissioners and this should be
followed up. Get the new rules of the game post-Katrina.
Also, if you have a complaint, show up at the LSMS meeting in Baton Rouge
this Friday. The incoming president, Dr. Floyd Buras will be installed as
the president. See ITEM TWO.
Don't tell me you are too busy. If it is any important issue, then you
will make time. A lesson of leadership is to have the complainer stand up
with the facts and present them. Don't expect the leader to go into
battle without ammunition. If the medical society is wrong, then try to
convince them. We did that under the leadership of Dr. John Cooksey in
1975 when the medical society initially was against caps saying a cap was
unconstitutional. We asked for a rehearing and convinced them. The rest
is history. The cap is in place and ruled constitutional. This double
hurricane disaster is of a magnitude that is difficult for those who are
not living in the aftermath to understand.
So where is Don Palmisano? He is right here in Baton Rouge and Metairie,
doing his best as a organized medicine leader out of power trying to do
what he can do in his own way and making himself available to any leader
in organized medicine who wants whatever advice and lessons of experience
Don Palmisano can share. Be assured I willing share my advice to those
colleagues in distress.
I do not forget the battle I was in in the late 1970s when a medical
building was to be built on a piece of land and it never was built on that
site. The limited partners believed that a fiduciary duty was breached by
the general partner in a subsequent sale of that land to a relative. The
other limited partners, approximately a dozen, asked me if I was afraid to
get involved in litigation to fight for our rights. I told them I was not
afraid but I wanted to know if they were willing to stay in the battle
until the end. They pounded the table and said yes. Well, the battle
lasted 15 years and over the years all but two 5% owners quietly got out
of the fight leaving the two 5% owners alone. I was one of the 5%
owners. We eventually won at the appeals level with a rare rehearing and
it was upheld by the supreme court. My point is just like my Dad taught
me as a kid: "Son, you will meet people in life who come on like
Gangbusters but go out like We The People."
I also remember the words of Joseph Reed who fought George Washington in
the American war for independence:
"Your noisy sons of liberty are, I find, the quietest in the field* An
engagement, or even the expectation of one, gives a wonderful insight into
character."
Also, in the Iliad, Odysseus told his men before the battle: don't tell me
what you are going to do with the Trojans before the battle, but rather
tell me what you did after the battle. I find the talk less. (With
apologies to Homer for my inadequate memory of the exact words.)
Jim Brown is a seeker of truth and a man of courage. I will go into
battle alongside him anytime so don't misinterpret my remarks. I know him
to be extremely smart and a logical thinker. I believe in time he will
agree with the advice below.
So, get the facts documented. Then spend the time going to the elected
leadership and be prepared to join in the fight until the end. Win, lose,
or draw.
Now I feel better. I still love Dr. Jim Brown who remains my hero next to
my Dad and George Washington. But, sometimes great people are wrong just
as those of us who are not so great are wrong. Jim Brown is no exception
in that, in my opinion, he is wrong about Don Palmisano in this instance.
The leadership of the various medical organizations and medical staffs can
speak for themselves and I will not presume to do so.
ITEM TWO: RELIEF FUNDS AVAILABLE FROM AMA, LSMS, AND PARISH MEDICAL
SOCIETIES TO HELP PHYSICIANS REBUILD THEIR PRACTICES
www.LSMS.org
The Louisiana State Medical Society will install Floyd A. Buras, Jr., MD
of New Orleans as the 126th President of the Louisiana State Medical
Society on October 14, 2005 at a special meeting of the Board of
Governors. The inauguration will be held at LSMS Headquarters, located at
6767 Perkins Road in Baton Rouge, and will begin at 2:30 pm.
Presidential inaugurations by custom take place at the Annual Meeting of
the House of Delegates. The 2005 Annual Meeting was cancelled due to the
devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina and subsequent recovery efforts.
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Read about the relief funds available from AMA Foundation, Louisiana State
Medical Society, Orleans Parish Medical Society, and Jefferson Parish
Medical Society to help physicians rebuild their practices/
Visit the following links to learn more:
http://www.lsms.org/Hurricane%20Katrina/Hurricane%20Fund%20Release.htm
http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/15610.html
http://www.ama-assn.org/ama1/pub/upload/mm/367/katrina_grant_app.pdf
LOUISIANA STATE MEDICAL SOCIETY AND COMPONENT SOCIETY RELIEF FUNDS
PRESS RELEASE CONTACT: Anne L. Shirley
Director of Public Affairs
800.375.9508
anne@lsms.org
Baton Rouge, LA * In response to the tremendous outpouring of concern for
Louisiana's physicians by the medical community throughout the United
States, the Louisiana State Medical Society (LSMS) has established the
LSMS Hurricane Katrina Physician Relief Fund. This fund was set up for
those who want to directly help displaced physicians re-establish their
practices in the disaster area or elsewhere in Louisiana.
LSMS President Jay Busby stated, "Over seventeen hundred of our members
have temporarily or permanently lost their practices, and in many cases
their homes, due to Hurricane Katrina. The LSMS has received hundreds of
phone calls and e-mails from around the nation offering donations as a way
to help affected physicians. We are humbled by this expression of support
and now have in place a way to help these physicians put their careers
back together."
The Baton Rouge Area Foundation, an organization known nationally for its
philanthropic work, will administer the LSMS Hurricane Katrina Physician
Relief Fund. Physicians' offices are a vital part of the healthcare
infrastructure that must be restored in the Southeast Louisiana disaster
area. The relief fund will provide grants to physicians from the
designated disaster area that will help them re-establish their practices
and begin to provide needed medical care to people returning to the area.
Donations are tax deductible and can be made online at
http://www.physicianrelief.kintera.org or by mail to: 402 N. 4th St.,
Baton Rouge, LA 70802. (Please make checks payable to LSMS Hurricane
Katrina Physician Relief Fund/BRAF.)
Dr Busby expressed the gratitude of the Louisiana physician community,
"The LSMS deeply appreciates the overwhelming response shown by so many
individuals and organizations to help the people of the Gulf Coast region
recover from the most catastrophic natural disaster of modern times. This
is the Spirit of America once again reaching out with expressions of
compassion and hope to lift up a part of this great nation in its hour of
need."
If you have any questions regarding this relief fund, contact Amy W.
Phillips, JD, LSMS Director of Legal Affairs and General Counsel, at
225.763.8500 or amy@lsms.org.
GREATER NEW ORLEANS MEDICAL FOUNDATION
A nonprofit foundation of the Orleans Parish Medical Society
Contributions should be directed to:
Greater New Orleans Medical Foundation
c/o Hibernia Bank Main Office - Baton Rouge
440 3rd Street
Baton Rouge, LA 70802
The following information should be included on the memo line of the check
or in a separate note:
"Deposit to Greater New Orleans Medical Foundation"
Either of the two following #s should be included:
Tax I.D. #: 20-1650323
Bank Account #: 2080558964
Questions regarding the Foundation should be directed to:
Susan D'Antoni, Executive Director
Orleans Parish Medical Society
Greater New Orleans Medical Foundation
256.355.4991 or 504.453.8562
JEFFERSON PHYSICIANS' FOUNDATION
A nonprofit foundation of the Jefferson Parish Medical Society
Contributions should be directed to:
Jefferson Physicians' Foundation
Jefferson Parish Medical Society 4937 Hearst St., Suite B
Metairie, LA 70001 Donations should be made payable to: "Jefferson
Physicians' Foundation" Questions regarding the Foundation should be
directed to:
Charlene Baudier, Executive Director Jefferson Parish Medical
Society 504.455.8282 or
email@jpms.org
AMA FOUNDATION HEALTH CARE RECOVERY FUND
For immediate release October 6, 2005
The American Medical Association (AMA) Foundation announced today that it
is offering grants to help physicians rebuild their medical practices in
the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Grants will be awarded from the
AMA Foundation's newly established Health Care Recovery Fund, an ongoing
fund that will also be available to physicians affected by future natural
or man-made disasters.
Physicians whose practices were damaged or destroyed in areas declared
disaster zones by the Federal Emergency Management Agency are eligible to
apply. Applications are available online (PDF, 12.3KB, requires Adobe®
Reader®) or by mail through the AMA Foundation, 515 N. State St., 11th
Floor, Chicago, IL 60610. Physicians need not be AMA members to apply, nor
will their AMA membership affect their application status.
The Health Care Recovery Fund was started with a $100,000 grant from the
AMA. The AMA Foundation will accept donations by mail to the fund.
"Rebuilding the health care infrastructure after major disasters like
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita is an immense challenge," said AMA Chair-Elect
Cecil B. Wilson, MD. "These grants will begin to help physicians get back
on their feet and provide much-needed care to their patients on the Gulf
Coast. This effort also will give physicians and others around the country
a chance to donate to an ongoing fund designed to assist their colleagues
who are rebuilding their practices in disaster areas."
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For more information, please contact:
AMA Media Relations (312) 464-4430
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