Dr. Kearney Back in the News

8/11/2017

Once again, for those new to this blog site, at present there are 43 posts on the blog and each has its own set of comments. To read the comments you have to hit the word "Comments" at the beginning or end of the post. Somewhat confusing is that when you bring up the comments for a specific post it eliminates the other posts from the screen. To bring the other posts back up simply go back to the top of the page and click on Blog. Feel free to comment should you wish. No email address is required to make a comment so anonymity is strong. Due to some previous abuse of this right to anonymously comment, I have had to include an approval option, but I try to approve within 24 hours. To understand the development of the blog it is best to read it from the bottom post (Dr. Paul Kearney Case) up. One point of note here, to read the earliest posts you have to click on the word "<<Previous" at the very bottom of the posts available. Finally, for those just looking for a good summary of the Dr. Kearney case, simply scroll down seven posts to the 12/10/2016 post. For social media developments on the Dr. Kearney situation I would encourage you to also visit the excellent "Save Dr. Kearney Facebook Page":
https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=save%20dr%20kearney

Okay, okay, maybe it is time for another post to the blog. It has been a long summer and I unfortunately/fortunately have been preoccupied. Lots happening recently that might have some bearing on the Dr. Kearney case. Much if not all of this can be found in other places like the Dr. Kearney Facebook page cited above, but I include it here for the new and frequent visitors to this blog site who may not visit these other sites.

To begin with, just yesterday UKHC administrators, as well as president Capilouto and his posse of lawyers, received the embarrassing news [in the form of a Kentucky Herald Leader article (http://www.kentucky.com/news/local/education/article166487142.html)] that the faculty in the College of Medicine, in defiance of this university and hospital administration and in support of Dr. Kearney, voted to have Dr. Kearney represent them on the College of Medicine Faculty Council. This, along with the 100s of letters to President Capilouto airing public support for Dr. Kearney, as well as his election by the general faculty to the University Senate and the recent establishment of a teaching award in Dr. Kearney’s name by the College of Medicine resident students, all voice the majority sentiment with regards to this total mistreatment of a university tenured professor and outstanding trauma physician. Of course what is perhaps most interesting about this is the distinct possibility that the College of Medicine Faculty Council is where it all began. Back in the 4/15/2014 College of Medicine Faculty Council meeting, Dr. Kearney suggested an audit of KMSF might help answer some of the questions the Faculty Council had with respect to the mystery Practice Plan Committee and hospital finances. This of course resulted in the response from Dr. Karpf (something about him leaving if he didn’t like how things were run around here) that many interpreted as a threat. Shortly following this meeting Dr. Kearney was cited for use of improper language in a trauma ward. This citation was subsequently used as an excuse to assemble a committee of KMSF employees to litigate the incident (of course in the absence of Dr. Kearney). This jury of totally biased KMSF employees (several of which were on the KMSF board of directors), as might be expected, found him guilty. They then went on to implement an unprecedented sentence of loss of patient privileges and banishment from the university. Unfortunately for Dr. Capilouto and his cadre of arrogant lawyers (but fortunately for faculty throughout the university), Dr. Kearney chose not to “take the deal or we will destroy your career”. Thank you Dr. Kearney. Offering support to the belief that all of this was simply a witch hunt, is the observation that the Chief Medical Officer Dr. Boulanger, the College of Medicine Dean Dr. deBeer, and the Executive Vice President for Health Affairs Dr. Karpf, all of whom participated in the manufacturing of this vendetta against Dr. Kearney (along with the university president Dr. Capilouto and his General Counsel professor/adjunct instructor Thro), have managed to flee the scene of the crime. Furthermore, this would also seem to support the contention that this is a case of personal vendetta and harassment by these individuals rather than a legitimate violation of university or university hospital regulations that merit the punishment implemented.

Let’s see, what else is there? Oh yes, there’s the UK dentist, Dr. Raynor Mullins, who, like Dr. Kearney, recently filed a Whistleblower lawsuit against a senior administrator (Mark Birdwhistell) in UK Healthcare (http://www.kentucky.com/news/state/article164966162.html). Mr. Birdwhistell is UK’s vice president (or is that president of vice, I get these mixed up) of administration for UK Healthcare. This case appears to reflect, once again, that arrogant practice of the lawyers at the University of Kentucky who think they are all powerful and can strong-arm anyone. That might work well for sexual harassers under employment by the university, but probably not so well for retirees who they can no longer bribe with NDAs or harass with termination.

Speaking of the UK traditional strong-arm approach to handling vocal faculty, there is also the recent newspaper article detailing the Sergio Melgar lawsuit (http://www.kentucky.com/news/local/education/article165159277.html). Sergio Melgar was a former Chief Financial Officer at UK hospital who recently filed a discrimination lawsuit against UK Medical Center. Mr. Melgar apparently made the mistake of voicing a complaint about his salary and was fired by Mike Karpf for it. It seems they didn’t have to recruit a kangaroo court for this one, Dr. Karpf simply said, ‘you’re fired’. Donald Trump would be proud of him.

Finally, there is the recent court-mandated release of information surrounding the Hazard money mismanagement debacle. If you remember, the university filed a lawsuit against the Herald Leader to stop them from accessing the infamous Hazard Board of Trustees presentation by the Washington lawyer, David Douglas, who they paid a million dollars to fix (at the cost of another 4 million dollars) the UK/Hazard mismanagement of Medicare/Medicaid billing (see presentation provided by an anonymous contributor). With something obvious to hide, the university of course is contesting much of this (see attached university motion to alter, amend or vacate the judge’s opinion and order).

So there you have it. The University of Kentucky appears to be spending more time and money (taxpayer dollars by the way) in court this year than they are educating the youth of this state. Speaking of which, what a poor example for the youth of the state. I have to wonder how much of this could have been avoided if the university had administrators and lawyers with the least bit of humility or the least bit of negotiating skills.

29 Comments

Bill

8/14/2017 08:06:37 am

Good to see you are still alive and posting again. I think the faculty have spoken, unfortunately the current university and hospital administrations are horrible listeners. This punishment regimen clearly has very little to do with Kearney's behavior in the trauma ward. You can't condone that behavior for 25 years with outstanding performance evaluations, promotions and awards, and then all of a sudden define it as so unacceptable that it merits being thrown out of the university. I mean, these are the same administrators and lawyers that reward sexual abusers with 6 months of salary and nondisclosure agreements. Talk about obtuse priorities. Better yet, talk about an ineffective Board of Trustees. Probably worried that speaking up might jeopardize those season basketball tickets.

Dan Noonan

8/14/2017 12:04:57 pm

Thanks for the comment Bill. I agree, the faculty and the students have clearly spoken with regard to the Dr. Kearney case. In addition, with over 1,000 signatures of support on the Dr. Kearney Facebook page along with the aforementioned 100+ letters of support for Dr. Kearney that Dr. Capilouto has received, is clear that the general public has also voiced their opinion on this matter. I, like you, am disappointed in the puppet regime we have for a Board of Directors. With the amount of time and money this university is spending in litigation associated with these cases, it's a wonder they can afford to pay the million dollar salaries to these lawyers and administrators.

8/14/2017 03:01:00 pm

For those needing a timeline for the Dr. Kearney saga please scroll back to the 12/10/2016 post, read the summary and then read forward for any updates. Thank you.

8/15/2017 07:17:08 am

I see where Cappy, the UK lawyers and sexual abusers at UK are taking a victory lap.

http://www.kentucky.com/news/local/education/article167139007.html

8/15/2017 08:00:19 am

Thanks for the comment DD. Yes; I have been made aware of this. Personally I see it as a tough call. Student rights to confidentiality are definitely an important and priority issue here, but basically rewarding an abuser and potentially providing the abuser an avenue for taking his/her abuse elsewhere is also a major concern. Add to this, as we have seen in the open records and the multiple whistleblower lawsuits, the propensity of the UK lawyers to cover-up or fight any activities that might expose wrongdoing, one has to really question the true motivations of the university president and his lawyers in this fight. The claim to protect the innocent is a good one, but unfortunately I have yet to hear of any modifications to existing regulations or approaches that target resolving the other concerns mentioned above. Modification of signed off faculty contracts that emphasize the consequences of abuse, manuals/programs for faculty that define abuse and how to avoid it, and education for students that directs them in how to avoid/deal with/report abuse are simply 3 that I can think of. Finally, although some (especially the lawyers) might not agree with this, I think the nondisclosure agreement should be taken out of the equation when dealing with abusers.

LRH

8/18/2017 09:33:04 am

Longtime lurker first time poster here. With the new(ish) dean and the brand new EVPHA surely there is an opportunity for a fresh look at Dr Kearney’s situation and perhaps a fresh start? The sticking point would seem to be Zwishenberger because I don’t see how he could remain chair if Kearney returns. And Zwishenberger is responsible for a lot of the faculty disengagement and departures from Surgery. Could someone start a blog to document and discuss Zwhichenberger’s disastrous direction of the surgery department and perhaps also a “sack Dr Zwishenberger” facebook page?

8/18/2017 11:33:17 am

Thank you for your comment LRH, and welcome. I think many are hoping that the presence of this new Dean and EVPHA might open a door for negotiating a return of Dr. Kearney’s clinical and teaching privileges. I know Dr. Kearney has had an opportunity to chat with the new Dean, but I don’t know what that was about. Like you, I suspect nothing like this could happen while Dr. Zwischenberger is still the Department Chair. I do not know exactly when Dr. Zwischenberger’s 6-year contract is up, but if that should be in the near future it would make for a great opportunity to replace him. Like you mentioned, the Press-Ganey results, by themselves, would be adequate justification for replacing him.

In addition, as we have noted earlier in the blog, some of the evidence we posted with respect to Dr. Zwischenberger’s deposition in the Dr. Kearney case suggests either he or Dean deBeer lied under oath with respect to the existence of the infamous 2 inch file documenting Dr. Kearney’s massive history of improper behavior. Then there are the unsigned affidavits in Dr. Kearney’s personnel file that Dr. Zwischenberger supplied the investigating committee. This information was used in part to convict and justify the actions taken against Dr. Kearney by this jury of KMSF employees. One would think that either of these manipulations of evidence by themselves would be enough to both overturn the Dr. Kearney conviction as well as remove Dr. Zwischenberger.

Unfortunately for Dr. Kearney, the university and the taxpayers of this state, the other major hurdle in this whole thing is Dr. Capilouto, his lawyers and the puppet Board of Trustees. For whatever reason, these folks appear committed to dragging this out. As discussed above, with the sentiment being so strongly in support of Dr. Kearney, even if the university lawyers win this case, they still lose. The negative impact and cost it has had and continues to have on the College/UKHC morale, recruiting and retention far outweighs any benefit some protracted court victory might have.

8/20/2017 04:03:24 am

Its interesting that Karpf's approach to running the hospital has been predicated on the idea that everyone is dispensable and can leave if they want to (subject to non compete restrictions) but for some reason while good people continue to leave the people who really should be told to leave like Zwishenberger and Saha are not held accountable for the damage they continue to do.

8/20/2017 02:10:00 pm

Thanks for the comment HR. I agree. I personally think Dr. Karpf's only interest over the past 5 years or so has been finding the 500 million necessary to complete his legacy, that being the new hospital. Faculty and physicians were pretty much numbers to him and if their RVUs were not high enough then they would be considered negative numbers. Because RVUs did not apply to administrators like Dr. Karpf and Dr. Zwischenberger their 1.3 million and 850 thousand dollar salaries could simply be thought of as "vital investments". I also think that these administrators, rather than trying to earnestly learn from the Press-Ganey results, blow them off as insignificant fake news that can be rectified by getting rid of complainers and throwing more parties.

Hopefully the new EVPHA and Dean will recognize that morale and retention are critical for the success of the College and hospital, and that it is the leaders/Chairs/Chiefs that carry the the responsibility for these. Because of the essential role these so-called leaders play in defining the performance, morale and retention of the people they are supposed to be leading, I think it is totally reasonable that 3-year faculty and staff performance reviews of all administrators would be a great thing.

Sly

8/20/2017 02:52:15 pm

Unlike most on this blog, I am still grateful for all the work Dr Karpf has done while at UK. You cannot question how far the medical center has grown since he started. You can see that is occurred in spite of him, but there is no way to prove that and in the end, he is the captain of the ship.

In the 9 years I have been at UK, I cannot for the life of me see any benefit for Zwisch. He's a buffoon at best, and a liar at worst. I cannot point to any positive benefit that he has brought to UK from an administrative standpoint. Every surgeon I have worked with (several have left or are leaving) has complete disregard for the man. And don't get me started on his obnoxious habit of playing the harmonica whenever a guest is around...

8/20/2017 03:40:39 pm

It is hard to hire really good people at uk so karpf has just plowed on regardless with who he had and who he could get. The sucess such as it is is largely a testament to his strength of will and ability to keep things together by himself. Zwishenberger is horrible but by far the most damaging thing karpf did was makong debeer dean. Some of the academic carnage debeer caused may never be fixed.

8/21/2017 06:32:47 am

Thanks for your comments Sly and HR. I think nobody can question the success Dr. Karpf has had with regards to the growth and development of UKHC. The new hospital is beautiful and a credit to the university. I guess my concern is simply the path used to get here and the attitudes of some of the current administrators overseeing what has been built. If you are an “end justifies the means” or “the buildings are more important than the people occupying them”, kind of person, then the current situation might be perceived as a “job well done”. As a former employee of the College I tend to believe it is the people occupying these fancy new buildings that make them good or bad.

Along these same lines, as a former customer I can state from personal experiences that it is definitely the people that occupy these buildings that make them what they are. Personally, I no longer use UKHC for my medical visits. The reasons being: a) I had knee surgery performed on the completely wrong area of the knee, but worse yet, when the surgery failed to correct the knee problem and I went outside the UKHC system to get it diagnosed, it turned out that the problem was really nothing more than bursitis and the surgery was totally unnecessary in the first place; and b) then there was the time I went into the UKHC emergency ward suffering from what was later diagnosed at another hospital’s emergency ward as “atrial flutter”. The doctors at UKHC emergency ward, in the absence of any monitoring device, diagnosed it as a heart attack and immediately treated it with nitroglycerine. This of course is the last thing you would give for a heart that is barely beating, and I almost died there on the gurney. So my point being, unlike Dr. Karpf, I am not so certain that the adage, “if you build it they will come” necessarily applies to hospitals. As one other blog commenter stated, “physicians speak with their feet”. This I extrapolate to mean that morale and how the physicians, faculty and staff of a hospital are treated can be as important if not more important than the buildings themselves. From the Dr. Kearney case, it is also clear that destroying the career of a talented and respected trauma surgeon through arrogant authoritarian approaches that totally disregard due process is not a great approach to problem solving or for morale development.

8/21/2017 09:13:19 am

I suspect Karpf came to UK because he knew there were few if any people with the necessary stature to stand up to him working in the COM and the Hospital. This of course was not the case at UCLA.

The new EVPHA runs the Duke for profit practice plan so I assume that physician engagement is his strong suit. I expect this will improve once he gets on board.

There are plenty of things about UK that are substandard and I am not surprised to hear about your experiences.

surgical strike

8/24/2017 08:23:07 am

The obvious strategy would be to make Andrew Bernard Chair, demote Zwishenberger back to the faculty with a concurrent decrease in salary (ideally making the situation so unpleasant that he retires or leaves) and recruit someone to replace Saha (who would then retire) as chief of CT surgery with a brief to recruit to replace the faculty that have left. The Reda departure is a disaster and of course they will now end up replacing Reda with someone with worse training and a worse record and paying him more than they were paying Reda. How does this keep happening?

8/28/2017 04:43:24 pm

Thanks HR and Surgical Strike for your comments. Like you, I truly hope that the new EVPHA recognizes the significance of this lower 1% on the Press-Ganey survey, the impact it is having on morale and faculty retention/recruitment and the simple truth that it is a direct reflection of the sentiment that "it is the people occupying these fancy new buildings and not the buildings themselves that will make this hospital great". I also hope that this new EVPHA recognizes the importance of transparency, honesty and the the necessity for judicial practices that are not administered by highly prejudiced lawyers and administrators with personal and hidden agendas.

Finally, from what others have emailed and commented on the blog, Dr. Bernard would appear to be a well respected candidate for replacement of Dr. Zwischenberger as Chair of Surgery. The irony of course being the fact that he was trained by Dr. Kearney and has a great deal of respect for him. Who knows, maybe this might effectuate a civil avenue of negotiation for resolving the tragedy that has played a significant role in bringing us to this lower 1% in the Press-Gamey survey.

I wonder if Paul Kearney got a free Fitbit?

9/1/2017 05:25:53 am

Dear Colleague,

Coming next month, you will have the opportunity to provide invaluable feedback on our University community as a place to work. Beginning Sept. 6, you will receive an email invitation to participate in our fourth UK@Work survey. The insights gleaned from this survey are critical to our continued efforts to address the needs of our faculty and staff.

Your past feedback has made a difference. Since the last time campus faculty and staff took the survey, in spring 2015, the University has implemented several initiatives to help our employees thrive. For example, we have:
• Provided managers and employees alike with enhanced guidelines and support for workplace flexibility.
• Increased engagement opportunities with leaders, including Conversation with the President and Chat with the Provost.
• Expanded our free Work + Life Connections counseling program with the addition of a mental health clinician.
• Begun offering financial well-being counseling.
• Provided subsidized Fitbits to help foster a culture of wellness.
• Avoided cost increases to the employee contribution for health insurance.
• Begun rolling out unconscious bias awareness training across the entire University and launched the Bias Incidence Response Team, to ensure we are a community where all feel secure and welcome.
• Supported our deans and vice presidents in implementing action plans based on your survey feedback in their respective colleges and divisions.

These are just a few examples of how your participation in the UK@Work survey helps me and our leaders improve our campus community.

Your individual survey responses are strictly confidential. No one within the University will know how you personally responded, and results are only reported in aggregate. The email invitation for the survey will come from Willis Towers Watson (UKatWork@willistowerswatson.com).

I recognize we all have numerous demands on our time. I encourage you to complete the survey during work hours, but please do so at a time that aligns with your schedule and your department or unit's work flow.

If you have any questions about the survey, please contact our Employee Engagement Director Amberlee Fay at 859-257-1003, or email her at amberlee.fay@uky.edu.

I look forward to your thoughtful feedback. And thank you for helping make UK an even better place to work.

Sincerely,

Eli Capilouto
President

Legal Beagle

9/7/2017 09:48:08 am

I am hearing that a court date for the Kearney Case is finally on the horizon. Any chance someone could post the details here?

9/7/2017 11:09:12 am

Thank you for the comments I Wonder and Legal Beagle. Wow, chats with the pres and the provost, free Fitbits, access to a mental health guru, and unconscious bias awareness training, what more could you ask for. With respect to the Dr. Kearney case, perhaps the pres and his lawyers might benefit most from the unconscious bias awareness training.

I have not heard anything about the Dr. Kearney Case going to trial. I know that the university lawyers have done everything they could to slow this event down by slowing down the deposition process. You might be right though, because I heard that the latest attempt to stall this deposition process with vacation requests was rescinded, and they provided the individual requested. At any rate, I am hoping the new EVPHA has recognized the stupidity of this prolongation approach and has stepped in and said, 'do what it takes to resolve this thing', because all of these so called "anonymous surveys" they might come up with mean nothing if the administration persists in its attempts to destroy the career of a faculty member that the vast majority of faculty, staff and the public support.

Armchair kearney enthusiast

9/7/2017 06:08:10 pm

Yes Karpf was deposed and he was not happy about it. Can't wait for the trial😀

9/13/2017 05:57:35 am

Thanks for the comment Armchair. I heard that, similar to Dr. Capilouto's deposition, Dr. Karpf's required 2 days to complete. Personally I think it is kind of sad, for the university but not so much for those deposed, that the UK lawyers have chosen to drag this out. Once again one has to ask: "how much of this could have been avoided?" Perhaps more importantly the question could be asked: "what might be done here in the near future to end this?" As detailed throughout this blog and the Facebook page, the University faculty, University staff, University students and the general public have made it clear where they stand on this matter. It is sad that the University President, his lawyers and the Board of Trustees choose to not hear their public at this public university.

Don't want to miss this!

9/12/2017 01:00:27 pm

Join your colleagues to honor the
UK HealthCare career and leadership of
Michael Karpf, MD, Executive VP for Health Affairs

Wednesday, Sept. 13
1-3 p.m.
Chandler Hospital Pavilion A atrium lobby

Remarks at 1:30 p.m.
Entertainment and refreshments provided

9/13/2017 02:31:47 am

Thanks for the info Don't. Word on the block is, "if you are going you may want to wear hip boots." 😀

9/22/2017 04:00:17 pm

The harmonica is the perfect instrument for zwishenberger because you have to blow and suck at the same time!

10/2/2017 09:19:26 am

I just got an invite to a musical tribute to Mike and Ellen Karpf to be held at the Singletary Center..while we are waiting for something to happen how about a thread about suggestions for appropriate music for this...Money for Nothing, Gold Digger, Money Talks, and maybe at the end of the night Karpf could entertain us with a rendition of Mo money mo problems...

Could someone nominate Paul Kearney for this (or Davy Jones) or both?

10/13/2017 06:17:29 am

The William R. Willard Dean’s Recognition Award is given each year at the Academic Convocation and Honors Day. This award is designed to recognize faculty members who have made outstanding contributions in all of the College’s mission areas.

I invite and encourage you to submit nominations for the William R. Willard Dean’s Recognition Award. You may nominate someone by submitting a letter that outlines the activities, accomplishments, and contributions of the faculty member. In the area of education, such contributions might include textbook authorship, instructional innovations, leadership roles (e.g., course coordinator or clerkship director, service on national committees), teaching awards, or contributions to student advising. Accomplishments in research might include program project awards, special grant opportunities, significant research program outcomes, or the development of an intellectual property that leads to a license agreement or a new start-up company. Outstanding service activities might involve the development of a clinical program widely recognized for excellence, publication of a landmark article that changes practices in an area of medicine, or distinguished contributions in public service or leadership to the University, the state, or nation.

Letters of nomination must be submitted at the link below by 5:00pm on Monday, October 16, 2017. Solicitation of letters of support for a candidate is neither required nor desired. The Selection Committee will reconsider nominations from prior years. If you have previously nominated a candidate, please re-submit a letter of nomination for consideration.

Willard Award Nomination Link

10/21/2017 02:41:25 pm

Latest info on ky courts site. How much longer is this going to take?

KEARNEY, M.D., PAUL (P)
• FAYETTE : 15-CI-00551
KEARNEY, M.D., PAUL VS. UNIVERSITY OF KENTUCKY,
Next OTHER HEARING is scheduled for 02/16/2018 at 2:30 PM in room ******

Another one bites the dust...

11/1/2017 09:54:07 am

http://www.kentucky.com/news/local/education/article182058666.html

Members of the University Community:

Provost Tim Tracy has informed me of his intention to resign from the role of Provost at the University of Kentucky, effective December 31, 2017. Provost Tracy has accepted an offer to become Chief Executive Officer of Aprecia Pharmaceuticals, a pharmaceutical research and development company in Cincinnati. Our Provost did not seek this opportunity. It sought him.

As President, I am sorry Provost Tracy is leaving. He has led a series of essential initiatives across our campus (from the construction of our current Strategic Plan to the UK Leveraging Economic Affordability for Developing Success (LEADS) program) and across the Commonwealth, including being instrumental in the initiation of UK College of Medicine sites in Bowling Green, Morehead, and northern Kentucky. And he has led our multi-faceted effort to strengthen our academic and support services that have resulted in notable increases in our undergraduate retention and graduation rates. His impact is deep and lasting.

Personally, I will miss Tim's hard work, dedication to our campus, and thoughtful counsel across the range of issues we have faced together.

Nonetheless, I also am excited for my friend as he pursues this next chapter in his career. I know you join me in thanking him for his service and wishing him well in this next endeavor.

In the coming days, I will be consulting with the deans and other senior administrators, the Senate Council Chair, and others. And I will soon communicate with you about next steps. We will move quickly.

Eli Capilouto
President

11/8/2017 05:05:16 am

I heard that EVPHA Newman is willing to have a search to replace Sibu Saha as CT surgery chief but appears to be going to stick with Zwishenberger as surgery chair...if true this is disappointing.

11/8/2017 05:09:22 pm

For people who check in sporadically like me can we possibly get an update on the status of the case? Is it actually going to trial? If so when and where?

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.

Dr. Kearney Back in the News

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