Candidate for
Director; Marin Healthcare District; Full Term

My Purpose in Seeking Re-election

I am running for re-election in order to complete the work that my board began three years ago. I have been on the Healthcare District Board for eight years and have been chair for the last five years. I was the top vote-getter in my previous elections.

I have been a strong advocate on the Board for quality patient care, doctors and nurses. Marin General Hospital should be operated solely for the benefit of the people it serves, not to fill corporate coffers. MGH's affiliation with Sutter's "obligated group" allows for all money in excess of two weeks' operating capital to flow to Sutter's corporate headquarters in Sacramento. Additionally, it makes Marin General liable for Sutter's debt, now in excess of $1.2 billion.

During my service on the Board, I have consistently supported:  local control of MGH whereby it is operated solely for the benefit of Marin residents  the District Board's lawsuit to determine the legality of the Lease  reversal of the severe cuts in nurse-staffing ratios  a Level II Trauma Center at MGH mandating uninterrupted neurosurgical coverage  maintenance of a MGH psychiatric unit that cares for all residents including the indigent and adolescents who are currently transported out of the County  a stroke center at MGH

This election will decide whether the lawsuit to determine the legality of the badly flawed Lease of Marin General Hospital to the private Corporation is allowed to proceed. Both Sutter/MGH and the District Board agreed three years ago that only the Courts could resolve this issue, however, since Marin General is one of Sutter's most profitable hospitals, they are doing everything possible to change the current Board majority. Marin General Hospital's profitability accounted for almost 100% of Sutter's net operating profits from its 27 hospitals in 1998, the last year for which figures are available.

Last year we settled the Lease breach issues for cash and an increase in future payments by Sutter Corporation amounting to over $3.35 million. The Sacramento Superior Court ruled that the statute of limitations applied, meaning that we would have had to take action within four years after the making of the Lease in order to void the Lease. They also said that if the facts we allege are true, and the facts are not disputed, then an illegal conflict of interest occurred in the making of the Lease.

Since that decision, the Appeals Court in San Diego has ruled that there is no statute of limitations when public entities are illegally (due to conflicts of interest) turned over to private third parties, upholding more than a century of California Supreme Court decisions involving public entities. The Supreme Court will soon rule on this issue.

The District Board has become a player in healthcare in our community. Due to outcries of the District Board supported by the public when a young woman with head trauma died after being turned away from our emergency room; a trauma system is presently being implemented in Marin County. Marin General Hospital will soon be a trauma center and the Corporation has also promised continuous neurosurgical coverage. There is no longer talk of closing the psychiatry unit at MGH.

It is critical that we elect a Board independent of the Corporation. I ask you to vote for me, Dr. John Severinghaus and Esther Blau.