After terminating 13 emergency room physicians, employees of Weslaco, Texas-based Knapp Medical Center are calling for the CEO's resignation, reports The Monitor.
Tension between the hospital's employees and CEO James Summersett dates back to when he took leadership in 2005. But it was the recent ER staffing changes that provoked "CEO's got to go" chants from doctors, nurses, and community members. "It matters who our emergency room doctors are," Dr. Sandra Esquivel, a Knapp surgeon, told The Monitor.
Thanks to a "communication problem," contracts for the 13 ER physicians were not renewed. After their last day on Dec. 2, Knapp will outsource emergency services to another group of doctors from outside the Rio Grande Valley area.
Prior to the ER staffing changes, hospital employees had blasted Summersett for allegedly refusing to release financial information and for removing people from the hospital's board of directors for asking too many questions, notes The Monitor.
And just last year, Knapp doctors banded together to block Summersett's attempt to merge the hospital with Valley Baptist Health System.
"Given the success of this institution and the important role Knapp plays in the lives of so many people and the health of the Mid Valley, it is very difficult to hear comments in the community that we are not doing everything possible to provide quality healthcare to our citizens," wrote Knapp spokesman Matt Lynch in a letter to the community, in response to the complaints.
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- read The Monitor article
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