Dr. Kearney's Op-ed Article

9/14/2018

"Once again, for those new to this blog site, at present there are 56 posts on the blog that span more than a three year time frame, 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 constructive comments within 24 hours. One last point of note, to read the earliest posts you have to click on the word "<<Previous" at the very bottom of the posts available. For a comprehensive review of the Dr. Kearney case and everything that brought us here see the 8/14/2018 post. For social media developments on the Dr. Kearney situation I would encourage you to visit the excellent "Save Dr. Kearney Facebook Page":
https://www.facebook.com/Save-Dr-Kearney-1039697039481791/

HAPPY HOLIDAY SEASON TO ALL!

Dr. Kearney actually provided the information for this blog post, because it is a Herald Leader Op-ed piece that he wrote entitled: "Justice being served in my lawsuit against UK Healthcare? You be the judge."

As a physician and surgeon, I was trained to solve complex problems in the safest, most expedient and cost-effective way possible. We were taught to provide compassionate care and alleviate pain and suffering.

Law schools must be teaching the opposite.

As the plaintiff in a civil lawsuit over the last three and half years, I have gotten a good view of our legal system. It has been like opening the chest of a trauma patient and seeing my young resident assistant collapse to the floor beside me.

In our legal system, it’s not that money is no object — it’s that money is every object.

Have you ever paid an outrageous price for dinner at a fine restaurant and left feeling hungry and disappointed? Well, welcome to court.

Lawyers are trained to take something simple and make it complicated. They must be taking required courses in Obfuscate and Bloviate 101, then graduate to Prevaricate and Procrastinate 666.

They minor in accounting, so billable hours for both the plaintiff and the defendant pile up, and martial arts so they can wallet whip the little guy who doesn’t have time and money on their side.

All this infliction of pain and suffering is called justice. Since the 16th century, Lady Justice holding scales has been depicted wearing a blindfold. Like her I hate to see what’s happening, too.

If I sound like a sore loser, don’t be confused: I’m not giving up.
I believe I caught my superiors at UK HealthCare red-handed in questionable financial practices, so I filed a whistleblower lawsuit in Fayette Circuit Court when they came after me. Just Google “UK HealthCare and Kentucky Medical Services Foundation,” and read all about my case.

My attorney has been going head to head with UK’s general counsel, one of the greatest legal minds of the 14th century. He told me and my attorney: “Negotiate a cash settlement with UK. If you don’t, we are going to ruin your career.”

University officials placed false documents in my personnel file, created a false narrative about my 30-year career at UK, threatened or retaliated against faculty who spoke to support me, and blatantly ignored exculpatory evidence that refuted their claims. In other words, they “fixed” the disciplinary process to insure the desired outcome.
This is UK’s idea of due process?

“You will get your day in court” is the old adage. If that’s your future, I’ll see you there. You have my condolences.

Stay tuned to my case, which is on appeal, as I have more faith in you and the court of public opinion than the judges I’ve met so far.

Paul A Kearney, M.D., is a tenured professor of surgery in UK’s College of Medicine. He can be reached at pakear0p@uky.edu

I think it important to point out that although Dr. Kearney has suffered immensely from this 3.5 year vendetta that the hospital and university administration have chosen to undertake against him, the University of Kentucky has likewise paid an enormous price for the decisions these people made. I am not just talking about dollars and cents which are most probably in the millions, but also the costs in morale, faculty/physician/staff attrition and most probably as a consequence the quality of healthcare.

Although a number of the prime instigators of this vendetta have left the scene of the crime I am simply amazed that Mr. Thro continues in his authoritative position as the University's General Counsel. His attempts to silence the Faculty Council with respect to the Practice Plan Committee, his threat of take the deal or we will ruin your career to Dr. Kearney, his subsequent attempts to destroy Dr. Kearney's career through preposterous work assignments and salary reduction, his tapping into Dr. Kearney's personal life through email monitoring and computer confiscation, his handling of KMSF Open Records disputes which he was at the same time telling everyone that KMSF was independent of the University and his recent demands that faculty representatives to the Board of Trustees not hear faculty opinions, all reflect an abuse of authority that has cost the University in time, treasure and talent.

I guess it is simply as we have said before, the buck stops at the top. Therefore it is in reality the lack of real leadership at the top of this University, that being President Capilouto, that has brought us to this position. President Capilouto delegates everything but hand shaking. I think if you use this approach to leadership that it is important that you accept the fact that you are personally responsible for all decisions that your delegated authorities may make. Unfortunately, I don't think President Capilouto understands this and therefore perhaps he should step down and let somebody with these abilities take his place.

39 Comments

kaptain kearnunch

9/14/2018 01:12:48 pm

Doesnt capilouto work for the bot?
Obvious solution- president paul kearney!

Dan Noonan

9/14/2018 01:31:46 pm

Thanks for the comment captain. Dr. Capilouto is suppose to report to the Board of Trustees, but as we documented in the review wherein he and Mr. Thro chose to override aspects of the BoTs reinstatement of Dr. Kearney's tenured faculty privileges, he appears to view the BoT's decisions as simply suggestions. One more reason he should be replaced.

Dr. Kearney as president might help bring transparency to the university management, something desperately needed. Hmmm, Dr. Kearney elected as a faculty representative on the Board might be a good start.

Eddy

9/15/2018 06:25:40 am

Whoo boy, got this in my email:

https://www.ukalumni.net/controls/email_marketing/admin/email_marketing_email_viewer.aspx?sid=1052&eiid=9571&seiid=89787&usearchive=1&puid=1c5dc34d-81dc-4dcf-9f72-2bc57584a1c5

2.1 billion dollars. I’ve got a plug nickel I’d like to add to the pot.

9/15/2018 06:46:20 am

Thanks for the comment Eddy. My concern with this glorification of the University is that it does not seem to fit especially well with the data from the national Press Ganey Survey of physician and staff engagement and satisfaction, wherein for the past three years the University Hospital has ranked near the very bottom of these categories when compared to 1200 other hospitals surveyed. This low ranking is also reflected in the abnormal number of faculty and staff that have chosen to leave the University over this time period. I’m not certain that the solution to my concern is money, but I can understand the need for this money. With the many lawsuits and lawyers required for dealing with the open records requesters, the state’s Attorney General, the school newspaper, the Hazard Cardiology KMSF money mismanagement, the litigations aimed at destroying Dr. Kearney’s career, the litigation that is on the horizon with respect to using the Department of Revenue for debt collection, etc. etc. I feel certain that any money left over after paying off these expenses will be used to build shiny new big buildings, and of course give big bonuses to our university administrators and the lawyers. Hmmm, maybe they will use some to bring PricewaterhouseCooper back in to show us how to save money and ruin, oops I mean run, the hospital.

Getting high on his own supply

9/15/2018 10:04:25 am

Kearneys op ed is off the front page of the HL web site and only has one comment. So much for the court of public opinion. Apart from noonan and the facebook crew does anyone care?

9/15/2018 11:01:51 am

Thanks for the comment Getting. With respect to the "does anyone care" question, I think the answer is a resounding "yes". Evidence to support this claim includes: a) the CoM faculty election of Dr. Kearney to its Faculty Council, b) the University faculty election of Dr. Kearney to the University Senate, c) the University faculty election of Dr. Kearney to a second 3-year term on the University Senate, d) the hundred plus letters of public support and praise of Dr. Kearney sent to Dr. Capilouto, e) the resident student's award to Dr. Kearney, f) the over 1000 supporting signatures on the Dr. Kearney Facebook page, and g) the many supporting comments found in the 56 posts on this blog site. All of this support occurred basically in response to the abuse of authority the university administration and its lawyers used in their attempt to destroy the career of a respected faculty member.

As to why you might not be seeing any comments at the Herald Leader site, I can think of several possible reasons including: a) It has only been up for less than 2 days, b) it is the weekend with UK playing, c) to a greater extent knowledge of this Op-ed article is limited to those that monitor my blog, d) very little anonymity is available at this comment site and e) as is evidenced in this Dr. Kearney vendetta, retaliation appears to be a specialty of this hospital and university administration.

Felix Leiter

9/15/2018 11:06:21 am

Not impressed with the Kearney op-ed. Now judges are also the bad guys because they didn't side with him? Oh, that UK graduate nonsense again.

It sounds similar to Trump's whining when he doesn't get his way. Kearney was a bully for years at UK as the documents in his file clearly indicate. Guess he doesn't like it when it's the other way now.

9/15/2018 04:37:08 pm

Thanks for your comment Felix. Throughout this blog you have made it abundantly clear what you think of Dr. Kearney and your belief that he deserves everything he is getting and that the administration is totally justified in the approach they used in their quest to silence him and ruin his career. As I have noted before, you are welcome to your opinion but it is also abundantly clear that you are in the extreme minority.

Furthermore I have read these “documented” complaints and by my calculation they boil down to three that have any credibility. There are basically profane language complaints for the years 2000 (that has 5 documents associated with it), 2005 and 2009. I refuse to count arguments with a Chair over Dr. Kearney’s criticism of the Chair’s secretary and the argument with another doctor over procedural differences. I also refuse to count the 3 totally redacted documents (which if they exist could easily be also associated with one of these three complaints) and the 2012 complaint, which is unsigned by Dr. Kearney.

Now we need to balance these grievous offenses against the fact that Dr. Kearney received outstanding performance evaluations for those years (signed off on by the same individuals reprimanding him), was promoted to full professor with tenure during that time period, received 29 teaching awards during that time period, received an endowment in his name during that time period, and most importantly saved probably hundreds of lives during that time period. I would venture a guess that even you can’t match these stats.

Lard of Dorkness

9/16/2018 06:00:20 am

Kearney's good deeds and "accomplishments? may carry some weight in the court of public opinion but unfortunately not in an actual court.. The fact of the matter is that there was a documented record of bad behavior, some of whiich was acknowledged by Kearney himself.as well as efforts at corrective action and rehabilitation. The courts do not have control over the hospital house staff credentialing process. This was not considered by Judge Scorsone and it won't be considered by the appeals court.

Presumably you think that Donald Trump's claims that he is so popular that he could walk out onto fifth avenue and shoot someone and get away with it are ridiculous? You are essentially making the same argument.

9/16/2018 12:41:36 pm

Thank you for your comment and opinions Lard. Please don’t insult us with your Donald Trump correlations. I include within my review of the Dr. Kearney case either original affidavits or avenues to those documents to support the statements being made. Donald would never do that because he makes it up as he says or tweets it.

Along these lines I would like to point out that this behavior problem of Dr. Kearney’s, as suggested by his promotions, awards and performance evaluations, was essentially deemed “a nuisance but acceptable” prior to Mr. Wilson’s allegation that Dr. Kearney used a profane insult while attempting to save his life. Now considering: a) individuals present in the room stated under oath they did not hear this remark, b) that the Kentucky Board of Medical Licensure could not find the grievous fault in Dr. Kearney’s behavior that the UK lawyers were hoping for, and c) that the justice system “dismissed with prejudice” this incident when Mr. Wilson’s family attempted to capitalize on it, one might effectively argue that basically with the nullification of the Wilson complaint we are left with Dr. Kearney’s behavior history being nothing different than before this complaint.

With that in mind the most logical conclusion for the extreme measures being taken to ruin Dr. Kearney’s career is “some other reason”. Let’s see, what do we have left? Oh yeh, there is the April 5, 2014 CoM Faculty Council meeting called by Dr. Karpf and Bill Thro for the express purpose of advising the Council that discussions of the Practice Plan Committee and KMSF money management was “none of their business”. I believe it was at this meeting that Dr. Karpf threatened Dr. Kearney when he suggested further investigation into this Practice Plan Committee that had never met in 4 years. Interestingly, since this incident the University and hospital administration and their lawyers have spent millions trying to prevent investigative efforts into what KMSF is doing with this hospital/public university revenue.

So again, this is simply a case where the punishment far outweighs the putative crime, with the only other logical motivation being that of silencing Dr. Kearney. If it weren’t for the BoT’s restoration of Dr. Kearney’s tenured faculty rights Dr. Kearney would have been effectively silenced. Hopefully the Court of Appeals will likewise look at this from all angles and decide it merits a jury trial. You are probably right that a win in a jury trial will not restore Dr. Kearney’s patient privileges, but it will hopefully provide a monetary settlement, expose the retaliatory nature of the university administration, bring justice to Dr. Kearney and bring a new level of sorely needed transparency to UK Healthcare.

Louie Heweis and the Booze

9/16/2018 01:10:25 pm

Since you are so keen on documents can you substantiate your claim that the "hospital" has spent "millions" on defending this case? The university lawyers are salaried and its very likely that the outside lawyers are contracted to work for a set price for handling the case and not paid by the hour. Unless you know otherwise which of course you must because everything you write is well documented and easy to prove to be true.

Kearney was both good at his job and prone to misbehavior. The university gets to decide when misbehavior warrants sanctions. The idea that somehow Kearney's good deeds immunized him from the consequences of his bad behavior is ridiculous but also appealing. How about for every 3 lives saved he gets to berate one of the OR staff, or 10 lives saved entitles him to give a bawdy/off color lecture to the medical students. Maybe if he saves 100 lives he could physically assault someone?

Does the court of public opinion have a court jester?

9/16/2018 03:53:13 pm

Thanks again for your comment Lard/Louie. Well I can’t give you a detailed account of the dollars and cents spent but I will offer “like you” a rationale for my statement. To begin with, it is my opinion that you are making a self-serving subjective opinion that UK contracted out this Dr. Kearney vendetta. Lawyers classically work though billable hours and I can’t see where this notable law firm would be any different. There have to be minimally a 100 working hours in depositions alone. Then you need to tack on the hours for the three submissions of the case to the judges. Then you need to tack on to that the hours for the outsourced law battles over the open records searches and the suing of the states attorney general. KMSF may wish to think they are not part of the university but their only source of revenue is UKHC so where do you think that money comes from? Then there is the attrition in faculty and staff caused by this abuse of power that has lowered morale over the past 4 years. Sure we are replacing some of these but as we all know this is a very expensive ordeal. Look at Mike Karpf alone. He is still collecting a million dollar salary while fishing somewhere out in Montana. I am sure we are paying the new EVPHA a similar salary, not counting how much it cost to recruit him. It can reasonably be predicted that people like he and Dean deBeer would still be working in their respective positions here if it weren’t for this Dr. Kearney vendetta. Need I go on?

The University may get to decide when misbehavior warrants sanctions, but even an administrator like yourself must agree that deciding a misbehavior warrants sanctions after rewarding it for 25 years is like shooting a dog for eating its supper. That is basically what they are trying to sell us that they are doing with Dr. Kearney, destroying his career and life predicated upon a behavior that they rewarded him for throughout his career. Keep in mind, if they can get away with using this flimsy excuse to destroy one faculty members career, they can do it with anyone. All you need to do is to get some unethical chair to stuff phony documents into a faculty member’s personnel file and then lie during depositions investigating the matter.

I won’t even comment about your sarcasm at the end of your comment. It’s not constructive and doesn’t merit a response.

9/17/2018 04:17:16 am

I just do not understand why the university doesn’t simply go out and get someone with negotiating skills and now approach Dr. Kearney and his lawyer about some sort of truce or compromise that works for both parties. They really need to end this and they have perhaps their best opportunity in 4 years to make it happen. Unfortunately this negotiator can’t be any of the university lawyers because they clearly have zero negotiating skills. Their arrogance and belief of invincibility relegates them to strong-arm tactics and threats. The irony in this is that both the General Counsel and his assistant Mr. Iler claim to be devout Christians. If they really knew anything about Christ they would know this would not be the approach he would use to settle this. Give this surgeon and teacher who has dedicated his career to saving lives of the people of Lexington and the state of Kentucky back his dignity. I have to believe any monetary costs would pay for itself in the end. I have had the privilege in my time at UK to work with Dr. Kearney, and yes he can use colorful language at times, but I have never worked with a more dedicated, compassionate and talented physician in my 30 years as a hospital employee. I think what lawyers and administrators fail to understand or factor into their negotiations is that those working in a trauma ward experience pain, suffering and death on a daily basis. We all learn to cope with it in our own way. Have some compassion folks and maybe rather than using this lawsuit as a vehicle for pounding your chests, simply learn something from it and use that information to improve the UK Healthcare working environment.

9/17/2018 04:58:00 am

Thanks for the comment RN. It is one of the better comments and/or suggestions to appear on the blog in a very long time. I am not sure what these compromise items might be, but I have to believe they exist, especially now that some of the former advocates of this vendetta have left or are leaving the picture and that Dr. Kearney is likewise not getting any younger. I, like I am sure yourself, know Dr. Kearney to be a very proud man. It is what makes him the outstanding physician and battler he is. I also, like you, view the university administration and its lawyers to be pompous and arrogant when negotiating university matters. Because of UK's status in the Lexington area this threatening approach may work in 99% of the negotiations they deal with, but clearly did not work here, ultimately costing this University considerable time treasure and talent. I also believe for this compromise to happen that some outside negotiator, without a horse in this race, might be necessary. In the meantime it might be worth cogitating on these parameters for compromise. Any thoughts on that?

Concerned Bystander

9/20/2018 06:18:39 am

Similarities abound at UK Dental School:

https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/2017/08/02/uk-professor-says-criticism-matt-bevins-medicaid-plan-cost-him-job/529439001/

or google Mullins v. Birdwhistell et al.

The lawsuit is ongoing from August 2017 while serious issues remain unaddressed within the college. It seems that the pattern at UK is censorship of the bottom and protection of the top.

Dr Rick Dagless MD

11/7/2018 06:36:42 am

https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/kentucky/kyedce/5:2017cv00319/83748/66/

Why is Raynor Mullins doing so much better than Kearney is?

11/7/2018 08:56:08 am

Thanks for the comment Dr. Rick. I see you have chosen to hide in Merenghi’s Darkplace Mole. I do not have a reliable answer to your query. You have many times made clear your administrative opinion on this case so I suspect you wish everyone to believe that the difference is merely a reflection of credibility. One possible alternative is the simple fact that Dr. Mullin’s case is being heard in a federal court while Dr. Kearney’s case is being heard in a local/district court. These I suspect are substantially different environments for cases of this nature to be heard.

Skipper the eye child

11/7/2018 01:53:09 pm

Can one of the expert conspiracy theorists link the forced resignation of useless coo Co Bofield to the kearney case?

Colleagues:
Vice President & Chief Clinical Operations Officer Bo Cofield, DrPH, will be leaving UK HealthCare to pursue new career opportunities. Bo is working with us to make this a smooth transition.
Knowing how fast information can travel through an organization, I am sharing this news before we have determined how all of his duties will be handled in the short term.
We are grateful for Bo’s service to UK HealthCare and the University. I would like to thank him for his contributions, commitment and leadership in quality and safety, our substantial clinical group, our Magnet status, our many accreditation surveys, and our partnerships with the College of Medicine and other health profession colleges – all of which has helped UK HealthCare secure its role in serving the Commonwealth.
I intend to take a few days to engage our Faculty and administrative leaders in a discussion of how we should organize going forward. My objective is to come back to you in the coming days with a plan for our organizational approach that will continue to support our refined strategic plan to drive quality, safety and value in meeting our commitment to the people of Kentucky.
In the interim, I am asking for your help in communicating with your teams. Now would be a good time to familiarize your teams with our refined Strategic Plan if you have not done so.
UK HealthCare’s leadership and governance needs have been on my mind throughout my first year. Many of us have already given a good amount of thought toward what our needs are. We should be able to respond quickly with an organizational approach for moving forward.
During this transition, it will be particularly important to keep the lines of communication open. If you have concerns or questions, I invite you to discuss those with your manager, your executive leader or me.
Thank you for your leadership in serving our patients and our mission.
Sincerely,

Mark

Mark F. Newman, M.D.
Executive Vice President for Health Affairs
O: 859-323-5126 l F: 859-323-1918
900 S. Limestone St., Suite 317, Lexington KY 40536
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Kearney Konnection

11/8/2018 06:02:13 am

I think the next person with job security issues is Dean Dipaola.

This year alone he has managed to get the COM unranked by US News, negotiated with and apparently offered a chair to someone that was under investigation for (and subsequently found to have committed) research misconduct (Li Wang), published and obtained NIH funding with Dr Shi and Dr Shi's wife who are clearly also implicated in potential research misconduct and conducted searches for the satellite medical campus dean positions in a way that was inconsistent with university policies and state laws. And thats all that we know of and there are still two more months to go before the end of the year.

Regarding the Mullins case, I think we can all agree that by having a less than squeaky clean record of behavior has not helped Kearney. If the goal was to take on UK/UKHC by having a faculty member martyr his or herself for the cause Kearney was not a good choice.

Joey Moose

11/9/2018 03:39:32 am

The Shi situation is really shocking, I am hearing that this could eventually eclipse the Eric Smart debacle. This is what happens when you value research funding over scholarship and service.

https://retractionwatch.com/2018/10/09/university-of-kentucky-cancer-toxicologist-retracts-three-papers-for-image-duplication/

https://pubpeer.com/search?q=xianglin+shi

SBT

11/9/2018 07:22:41 am

Whats really disappointing is that the emphasis on grant funding that was prevalent during the DeBeer administration has continued and if anything worsened with the current dean. Apparently a new basic sciences faculty compensation plan that only guarantees a base salary is in the works. Meanwhile new hires seem to favor people with some obvious phenotypic similarities to Dr Shi like the pharmacology chair candidate mentioned above or the new toxicology chair. Why can't we be happy with who we are and where we are and try to support and grown what we have?

Ed Howzer-Black

11/11/2018 06:32:37 am

UK are going to settle with Mullins:

https://www.pacermonitor.com/public/case/22131493/Mullins_v_Birdwhistell_et_al

MINUTE ENTRY ORDER FOR SETTLEMENT CONFERENCE held on 11/5/18. before Magistrate Judge J. Gregory Wehrman: substantial progress was made during the session & the parties have agreed to continue negotiations & report back to the court by 12/6/19; that this file is returned to the Chambers of Judge Robert E. Wier for further order. (Court Reporter none.) (KJR)

11/11/2018 08:16:11 pm

Pretty shocking and unexpected news about Bo Cofield. I can only assume he got into Deep trouble, given his short tenure here. In the end, he quite simply didn't accomplish anything and he was not very interested in engaging with the faculty. And it should be said, he had lots of "extracurricular" activities. Hopefully this is a sign that Newman won't tolerate the crap that Karpf did, and that senior administrators will be held accountable just as physicians are.

Danny Bear

11/14/2018 07:13:24 am

From follow up email from Newman. Funny how Cofield left to "pursue other opportunities" at exactly the same time that his position was eliminated.

Earlier Dr. Bo Cofield, our chief clinical operations officer, announced he is leaving us to pursue other career opportunities. In reviewing the position and our needs at this stage, I have decided to eliminate the role of Chief Clinical Operations Officer.

11/14/2018 08:11:55 pm

It's fairly likely that "other opportunities" relates to his social life given what was readily apparent soon after Boo arrived at UK.

Clem Fandango

11/13/2018 09:20:45 am

Does anyone know what these "career opportunities" for Bo Cofield actually are? Do they involve fries and burgers?

On a related note I think Mike Karpf's one year golden parachute arrangements have finally ended and he will be packing the contents of his office into his Maserati and making the long drive to Jackson Hole in time for opening day and the possibility of getting >50 days of skiing in this season. Not a bad life.

11/13/2018 07:20:07 pm

It would be nice if somebody made a freedom of information act request to see Karpf's schedule for the year. How many meetings? is he actually in town at all. How is he justifying his 900K salary?

Raynor Mullins

12/10/2018 03:59:40 am

1. Get retaliated against by UK
2. Don't say anything
3. File suit
4. Get UK motions dismissed
5. Force UK to settle because they are scared of a trial
6. Profit!

Anonymous

12/15/2018 05:36:56 am

A clarification to the above. Dr. Mullins did say something and that was why he was retaliated against. This is clearly evident in the below excerpt from in the October 31, 2018 deposition of Dr. Aalboe who was working with Dr. Mullins at that time.

From: The Deposition of DR. JOANNA AALBOE, Oct. 31, 2018
Mullins v Birdwhistell and Kyrkanides

Pg 36-37

A: … By that point, Dr. Mullins had told me that he had filed something with UK and that Patty Bender would be contacting me. An it was maybe over a month and I still hadn’t heard. And I had let Dr. Mullins know, you know, this person hasn’t contacted me yet. And he said, ‘Don’t worry. She will. She’s, you know, doing her thing.’ She had already talked to Dr. Raybould. And so in this meeting with the Dean, you know, I had said, ‘I’m still waiting to hear from Patty Bender.’ And he told me, ‘You won’t hear from her. This is – it’s already taken care of. It’s done.’
Q: Do you know, is Patty Bender with the UK Office of Institutional – Institutional Equity and Equal Opportunity?
A: Yes.
Q: Okay
A: And I never did hear from her.
Q: Okay. And what was the time period that you had that conversation with the Dean; do you recall?
A: It was just in the fall of 2016, so it was somewhere around September, October.

Pg. 51 - 57
Q: You mentioned this a little bit earlier, but I want to talk a little bit more about it. Were you – you – I guess, at one point, you became aware of the fact that Dr. Mullins had filed a complaint that related to Dean Kyrkanides’ retaliation and Dr. Mullins’ public comments?
A: Yes. Uh-huh.
Q: Okay. Do you remember – how did you become aware of that and -- when, if you recall?
A: It was a time that I had met with Dr. Mullins and he just let me know that this was what was going on, and that a representative from UK named Patty Bender would be contacting me….
Q: Did Dr. Mullins ever relay to you the reason why he decided to file this Complaint with the Office of Institutional Equity and Equal Opportunity?
A: Yes, I mean -- you know -- this is a man that has given 40 years of his life just to better the oral health of Kentucky. I mean, this is really his passion. And, you know, it’s hard to understand why somebody would want to stop that. And so I think he just felt that it was an unfair way to go about – especially, if it was true, just because that he had some personal comments about this Medicaid waiver proposal…”
Q: Going back to the Complaint that Dr. Mullins made to Patty Bender in the Office of Institutional Equity and Equal Opportunity, in – in speaking to Dr. Mullins, was it your impression that he believed they would be reaching out to you?
A: Uh-huh (affirmative).
Q: And did anyone from that office ever reach out to you?
A: No one ever did.
Q: Okay. You may have testified to this earlier, but just to be clear. Did the Dean – Dean Kyrkanides, did he ever speak to you about Dr. Mullins’ Complaint to the Office of Institutional Equity and Equal Opportunity?
A: Not in a lot of detail. Just like I said, it was just that one particular instance when I had mentioned that Patty Bender was supposed to be contacting me. Yeah, I hadn’t heard from her yet. And he told me, ‘You will not hear. That’s already done and over with.’ …
Q: … Did the Dean ever use the expression “The case is closed”?
A: Excuse me. Yeah, I believe, at that time, that’s exactly what he said to me. ‘You will not be hearing from Patty Bender.’ Yeah, ‘The case is closed.’

pseudo anonymous

12/15/2018 06:15:57 am

Interesting. This is not the first time I have heard that the EEO office would not take up a credible faculty complaint of discrimination and harassment by a supervisor or "leadership". On the other hand the EEO office will take literally any complaint (however flimsy) made by a student or staff member against a faculty member seriously and then conduct one of their secret investigations construing all of the evidence in favor of the complainant.
Personally I think the EEO office is out of control.

Kearnspiracy Theorist

12/10/2018 02:09:17 pm

Who thinks that UK and their pals in the Judiciary cooked up the Mullins case to create the illusion that a faculty member can win against the University? Now they can get back to the important business of screwing Kearney over by denying his final appeal!

12/11/2018 09:26:35 am

Interesting theory. A better one is that it helps your case if you don’t have a history of bad behavior. Kearney obviously does.

Leggo

12/12/2018 12:19:47 pm

Probably true Felix. It also doesn’t help that the judge making the decision on whether or not this bad behavior case goes before a jury is gay. That factored in with the insinuations that this bad behavior the university lawyers are hyping might be interpreted, or even presented, as homophobic in some respect, could also play a role in the ruling.

Having said that, the fact remains that all existing evidence support the contention that this whole situation was initiated via a true vendetta trial and sentencing, well beyond anything previously experienced at the University of Kentucky, and adjudicated by the university administration and lawyers completely without due process. Personally I view this as a hate crime by the Chief Medical Officer who was able to parlay the Wilson incident into an avenue for getting rid of someone whom he could not physically bully as he did others while he was here. Think about it, now there’s your real crime. There is a good reason why this CMO fled the scene of this crime.

Ray Purchase

12/12/2018 06:02:57 am

Felix- good point. Its been made by others here.

Kicking ass taking names

1/16/2019 04:05:00 pm

https://www.kentucky.com/article224621590.html

Whoo whooo all aboard the Mullins train!!!

1/17/2019 04:56:00 am

Thanks for the comment and information Kicking. Hmmmm, not bad, it kind of looks like the Dean is being punished with a year paid vacation with benefits. I suspect that they figure that in a year’s time Matt Bevin will be out of office, this will be old news and things can return to business as usual. But still, this is a pretty big move for the new Provost, because both Dr. Kyrkanides in the College of Dentistry and his wife in the College of Medicine are funded researchers, and we know how much these people value research revenue.

Old Friend

1/17/2019 06:23:17 am

I think their funding is minimal/expiring. I don't think his wife has tenure but she may be able to practice as an emergency medicine doctor. I assume that the reduction in salary and leave/returning to the faculty is the best the university can do short of trying to revoke tenure and dismiss him. I expect he will be taking the year to look into other employment options.
The two things that are interesting to me are that Mark Birtwhistell was the co defendant in the Mullins suit but does not appear to have suffered any consequences. Also that Dr Kyrkanides is not the only Dean appointment made by former Provost Tim Tracy that is not working well.

phil the greek

1/20/2019 09:25:12 am

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jkyrkanides/

Interesting that the former dentistry dean's son is associated with some of our other GOP representatives.

Sam C

2/6/2019 01:58:25 am

As of today 02/04/2019 UK hospital is still referring hospital bills to the Commonwealth of Ky Revenue Dept for collections. I would have thought UK would have suspended the practice of referring while appealing the judges decision., but they havent.

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Dr. Kearney's Op-ed Article

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