New for 2008 is a category to cover all the things that are done, often under the guise of leadership, by people who ought to know better—actions that are illegal, immoral, unethical, etc.—and not just the ones that make the front page. I’ll do my best to avoid subjective judgments and promise to clearly label those that are.

So, first up.

Who always considers themselves leaders in their communities? Doctors.

Who always presents themselves as taking the ethical high road? Doctors.

Which medical profession is the most highly paid? Invasive Cardiology with average earnings of $460,000.

For the heart surgeons from Cardiovascular Surgical Associates, Oct. 17, 2002, was another typically busy morning, with three bypass surgeries in three operating rooms at Sacred Heart Medical Center in Eugene.
In OR 16, Dr. David Duke started his coronary artery bypass grafting, known as CABG, at 8:20 a.m. His colleague, Dr. Richard Hicks, was listed as the assistant surgeon on the case, according to federal investigators’ records.
Over in OR 15, another member of the practice, Dr. Stanley Baldwin started a bypass surgery at 8:24 a.m. Dr. Hicks was listed as the assistant on the case, the records show.
And in OR 3, Dr. Rob Burnett was the primary surgeon on yet another CABG, starting at 8:25 a.m. Assisting on the case: Dr. Hicks.
How Hicks was able to assist three different surgeries going on simultaneously in three different operating rooms is unclear. But that practice was repeated on other days, with different combinations of doctors listed as primary and assistant surgeons on cases going on at the same time, the federal records show.
This pattern of overlapping, intertwined surgeons and their assistants appears to be central to the federal government’s long-running investigation into four Eugene heart surgeons: Drs. Duke, Baldwin, Hicks, who is now retired, and Warren Glover. Dr. Burnett left the practice in 2003 to work in Idaho and has not been implicated in the case.

Anyone who watches Grey’s Anatomy knows that assisting on a surgery means being hands-on in the OR, but according to

“Donald Diment, a Eugene attorney representing Glover, said the surgery times listed on paper can be misleading, and that it doesn’t necessarily mean the surgeon is standing at the operating table. In the long haul, all of us believe strongly our clients will be exonerated.”

But that was then and this is now.

On December 28, 2007, the four agreed to pay $2.5 million to settle the allegations, but, of course, none of them admitted liability or wrong doing.

Do stories such as this annoy/disgust/revolt you? Have you seen a leadership breach in your own community?

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This entry was posted on Thursday, January 3rd, 2008 at 4:01 am and is filed under Ethics, Healthcare, Leaders Who DON'T, Leadership Choice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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