Madison Messenger
The election, the hospital and jail time
23 October 2008

Kushner makes some good points, but ...

To the editor:

Sam Kushner makes some good points in, “A problem we can’t ignore,” (Oct. 19, page A11), his column regarding Danville Regional Medical Center. But some of his assumptions are not entirely correct.

The hospitalist situation was not initiated by LifePoint. First of all, this is a national trend and is becoming standard operating procedure that a patient sees a certain internist as an outpatient, but when admitted to the hospital is seen by a different doctor (the hospitalist). This does not apply to surgery. The surgeon one sees in the office still goes to the hospital and takes care of one’s surgical needs. Second, the internists in this community initiated the process of getting a hospitalist program set up before LifePoint entered the picture. LifePoint merely continued the process of setting it up after they took over. Some patients are going out of town for their medical care, but usually their local medical doctor is still not the one taking care of them in that hospital.

The assumption as to the cause of the mortality rate of cardiac patients at Danville Regional is not completely accurate. Our incidence of diabetes, obesity, low level of education and compliance are much higher than the norm, yet all of these factors are not included in the calculations.

I, as a man who is not overweight, does not drink, smoke or “do drugs,” and has a post-graduate education will probably do quite well having our local cardiologist - and if needed, our cardiovascular surgeon - take care of me at Danville Regional. I know our CV surgeon has great judgment and is technically excellent. To go elsewhere, I may not have that inside information and assurance.

ROBERT H. HONEA M.D.
Danville