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Dr. Paul Kearney Case

8/6/2015

21 Comments

 
I established this site for the purpose of allowing UKy COM faculty and staff the opportunity to anonymously discuss or comment on controversial events happening in the College and hospital. With that in mind, if you wish to anonymously make comments simply sign in using an email address and user name that does not identify you.

The Paul Kearney Case

The Crime: When I joined the COM back in the early 1990s it was a growing, positive environment, and a great place to work. Unfortunately, in the past 5-10 years the hospital and College administration have implemented changes and a puppet governing system to where most employees feel scared and threatened. With the Dr. Paul Kearney case I feel the administration has drawn the "line in the sand", knowing that if they can twist the facts and truth to their advantage with a distinguished tenured faculty member like him, they can do it to virtually anyone they wish. They tried it earlier with Dr. Kaplan, but failed. Having learned from that experience it is clear that the ongoing situation with Dr. Kearney is much better planned. One would have to say that it is quite impressive that they (the hospital and College administration) were able to take a single unsubstantiated non-threatening event like the use of bad language while saving a life, to: a) declare the physician a threat to the entire UKy campus, b) take away his patient privileges, c) change the locks on the door to his office, d) bar him from entering the campus, e) bar him from conversing with any hospital employees, f) bar all hospital employees from talking with him, and g) bar him from his tenured faculty duties of teaching and service.

The Perpetrators: Now whom are these “administrators” leading this lynching? Heading this list is Dr. Michael Karpf, executive vice president for health affairs (EVPHA). Why Dr. Todd hired him back in 2003 it is difficult to understand? His documented poor (http://articles.latimes.com/2003/sep/03/local/me-ucla3 ) or perhaps even criminal (https://pageonekentucky.com/2012/08/01/uk-medical-centers-problems-bubbling-to-the-top/) record at UCLA prior to coming here speaks to his inability to finish the job, and his recent embarrassing interviews on CNN (http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/17/health/kentucky-heart-surgeries/) speaks to his arrogance. Next we have Dr. Bernard Boulanger the Chief Medical Officer appointed by Michael Karpf. He assembled the kangaroo court responsible for implementing the above actions. One can only assume Michael Karpf chose Dr. Boulanger simply because he too has a record of abuse to the people he works with. Finally there are the College Dean Dr. Fred deBeer and the Department Chair Dr. Jay Zwischenberger. These 2, although representatives of the academic arm of Dr. Kearney's appointment and supposedly reporting to the Provost, clearly take their orders from the EVPHA. I suspect with inflated salaries of over $850,000/yr I can understand their motivation here.

Motivations: So what might be the true motivation(s) for these drastic measures that are clearly a public embarrassment and a major expense for both the University and Dr. Kearney? I kind of favor the witnessed COM Faculty Council meeting in which Dr. Kearney suggested an audit of the KMSF funds. This resulted in Dr. Karpf verbally threatening Dr. Kearney at that meeting. So why would Dr. Karpf have a problem with an audit of the financial arm of the hospital? Well there is the Whistle Blower case filed by Dan Ross, a former adjunct professor of accounting and an auditor in UK's Internal Audit Department, who claimed UKy officials retaliated against him for blowing the whistle on "suspected mismanagement, waste, fraud, and possible violations of state law." One of the cases that Mr. Ross reported to his bosses and for which he subsequently lost his employment, was one that involved KMSF contributions to the Kentucky Research Challenge Trust Fund (RCTF), or “Bucks for Brains” program. In this program the state matched contributions to the University research programs made by unaffiliated corporations, which of course KMSF was not. In essence, the hospital was using its financial arm KMSF to illegally receive matching funds from the state. More information on this can be found in the Appeals Court ruling that, to the chagrin of the University, reversed much of the lower courts ruling in favor of the University: https://cases.justia.com/kentucky/court-of-appeals/2011-ca-000433-mr.pdf?ts=1388761332 .  What happened to Mr. Ross and this case? As far as I can tell they both simply disappeared. My best guess is that it was settled out of court and hopefully Mr. Ross is sipping a Mai Tai in the Caribbean.  Unfortunately I fear that this is just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. While on Faculty Council I had the opportunity to attend several hospital “budget meetings”. One of my favorite memories is of Michael Karpf standing before us with his fingers interlaced above his head telling us “all of these pots of money are married together and should be thought as one”. The pots of money that he was referring to were research grant funding, state contributions to our education endeavors and hospital revenue. This really bothered me because as we all know, each of these pots of money were given to us for an expressed purpose, and thinking like this simply reeks of potential misuse of state and federal taxpayers money as well as hospital funds. It further bothered me because what he was in essence conveying was that he was in charge of both the hospital and the College. This of course as all of us have come to learn is exactly the current situation. So in summary, I can envision many reasons why Michael Karpf may not want KMSF or any of his financial practices audited. Michael Karpf’s obsession with finding the 500 million dollars necessary to finish off his legacy, the new hospital, is probably going to cost this University much more than money.

Where's Our President: The next to last thing I would like to comment on is “where does our University President Dr. Capilouto stand on all of this?” I have written 4 emails to Dr. Capilouto concerning this matter with nothing more than an acknowledgement of receipt in return.  Below I have pasted in my last email to Dr. Capilouto and I think it effectively expresses my concerns with respect to both our current president as well as with who is running this University. As suggested in this email, my voice here is simply one of many. In addition, open records have identified over 120 emails, from people both on campus and off campus, sent to Dr. Capilouto in support of Dr. Kearney. Dr. Capilouto continues to travel the safe road, and like Sergeant Schultz on Hogan’s Heroes simply say “I know nothing”. Why I don’t know. Perhaps he does not want to anger Dr. Karpf, or worse yet, perhaps he has drunk the Kool-Aid and believes there is an ounce of credibility in this lynching.

The Verdict: Well the Health Care Committee of the Board of Trustees met this morning and voted to suspend Dr. Kearney's clinical privileges. I guess in an effort to make it look like they were cognizant of the fact that this is an education facility and not a university exclusively run by Michael Karpf, they also voted to rescind the ban on his coming to campus and talking to colleagues, to restore his access to University email, to provide him with an office, and to affirm that he has all the rights that a tenured faculty member without clinical privileges has. One of our faculty Trustees, Bob Grossman, emailed me to state, "I did want you to know that the five members of the Health Care Committee, plus eight trustees who did not serve on the committee and did not have a vote in the matter, spent two hours discussing all aspects of this case. The discussion was thoughtful and serious. I will allow you to draw your own conclusions about the tenor of the discussion from the fact that the Health Care Committee modified the recommendation from the hearing panel to emphasize that Dr. Kearney retains all the rights of a tenured faculty member." Unfortunately this sounds too much like a company line to me, and an attempt to placate the masses. In reality this is a total miscarriage of justice and needs to be treated as such. Bob, if you were part of this 'serious and thoughtful discussion' let us know what was even debatable here. I personally see nothing that merits destroying 27 years of service to this university and the many lives Dr. Kearney has saved over that time period. I also entreat all of you out there that visit this blog site to express your concerns either anonymously here or publicly in perhaps a letter to the editor. Furthermore, if you know of anyone who has either benefited from Dr. Kearney's medical expertise or has been likewise manipulated by this hospital administration (especially those no longer working here) please pass on the info either here or to my gmail account (dnoonan48@gmail.com). Maybe it is time to start a letter writing campaign.    


My 7/14/15 email to Dr. Capilouto
 
From: "Noonan, Daniel J" <dnoonan@email.uky.edu>
Date: Tuesday, July 14, 2015 11:24 AM
To: "Capilouto, Eli" <elic@uky.edu>
Subject: Concerns

Dear Dr. Capilouto,

I once again write to express my disappointment in your handling of the Dr. Paul Kearney situation. When you first arrived at this University I had great hopes that you would be a president for the students and faculty and not just another puppet of the “good ole boys” network. During your first 3 years I was probably one of your strongest supporters, often defending your decisions to my faculty colleagues stating that “your apparent unwillingness to take a stand or act on issues was simply a reflection of your patience and attempt to get the big picture before acting.” How unfortunately wrong I was.  You have made it abundantly clear that you, like the EVPHA and many of your predecessors, view the buildings that form this university much more important than the people that occupy those buildings.  Furthermore, you appear to view academics as a “business for profit” rather than an avenue for educating the youth of this state. I can see where this attitude might be a survival priority for private higher education facilities, but the University of Kentucky is a state university funded primarily through taxpayer dollars. Although it might have been the corporate executives that were primarily responsible for your hiring, it is really to these taxpayers that you owe allegiance and not the corporate executives.

I waited and waited for a sign that you were going to “take charge”, and thought perhaps the hiring of Dr. Reardon as provost was maybe it. Even she, although primarily a businessperson, was willing to listen to the faculty and respond to their concerns. Sadly I fear she may have seen the writing on the wall and like too many of the faculty we should be supporting we either ostracize or drive away. Dr. Kearney’s case, at least from my perspective, has finally defined your position as President of the University of Kentucky, as well as Chair of the University Senate. It is clear where your priorities lie, and they are not with the faculty of this University, nor with its students. The faculty and students have spoken on this issue.  Following the ostracization of Dr. Kearney by the kangaroo court assembled by the EVPHA, Dr. Kearney’s professional colleagues in the College of Medicine elected him to represent them at the University HealthCare Colleges Council of the University Senate, Dr. Kearney’s faculty colleagues at the University of Kentucky elected him to represent them on the University Senate, and the 2015 class of Chief Surgical Resident students that Dr. Kearney taught awarded Dr. Kearney with a “Lifetime Achievement Award” at their recent Chief Residents Dinner. I am sure you understand what is going on here. The faculty and students of this College and University knew the potential consequences of speaking out as individuals and therefore found avenues for doing so as a group. It is clear from your actions or lack thereof, that, although you have specific authorities in these matters, you have opted to side with the hospital administration and its kangaroo court rather than the faculty and students of this university.

So once again I wish to state my disappointment in your presidency and in my poor judge of character.  The Egyptians clearly showed us that “you can’t take it with you”. When you get to be our age Dr. Capilouto it is the time to take a stand. Trust me, it feels good to do so.  

Regards,

Dan Noonan

21 Comments
Bill
8/18/2015 08:08:32 pm

Dan, Thanks for sending me this blog site. Excellent stuff. I read about the earlier Trustee meeting and it is clear they are simply taking their orders from the university lawyers. I guess it is like the university lawyer told Dr. Kearney, 'we'll destroy you if you don't take the buyout.' Sad thing for this university, the employees of this hospital and the citizens of Kentucky. What kind of examples are these people to the youth we are trying to educate. Keep up the good fight.

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Dan
8/19/2015 12:08:00 am

Thanks Bill, It is a tragedy in many ways and I am sure has and will impact faculty recruiting and retention. I heard earlier today that the Trustee Council meeting on Monday to decide on Dr. Kearney's patient privileges is limiting it to 2 people (the lawyers) and 5 minutes each. What a sham orchestrated by the UKy administration. Hopefully, as suggested by another, other faculty and staff who have been intimidated by this hospital administration will use this site to relate their experiences.

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Anon Ymous
8/22/2015 10:39:58 am

Dr. Noonan,

Thank you for starting this blog. It is clear to many faculty now that to speak up is to risk that same vendetta against them. Dr. Kaplan and Kearney are just the publicized ones. There are multiple others: keep looking.

Those of us with kids and mortgages have been wondering when the tenured professors of retirement age would speak up: you have... and thank you for this service.

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Paul Kearney
8/26/2015 05:47:26 am



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Dan Rusu
10/13/2015 02:49:57 pm

Paul - truth will prevail.
If we don't fight for our beliefs - what are we?
We'll do it!
Dan

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Lachin Hatemi
8/26/2015 03:40:16 pm

There is also a facebook group named "Kentuckians against Michael Karpf". I highly recommend everybody to join. I will share the link to this blog on that group too.

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Tycho Shea
6/24/2016 08:22:39 am

Manpower and Morale

Despite the deliberate attempt by UK Healthcare to hide the results of the 2015 and 2016 physician engagement survey, the results and their consequences are slowly leaking out. In January, administration told the Healthcare Committee of the UK BoT that the abysmal results of the 2015 physician engagement survey were “incomplete” and they wanted to wait for the 2016 survey results. Well, they are in and considerably worse than the 2015 results. In short, UK Healthcare is very bottom “ONE PERCENTILE!” To put his in perspective, the Press-Ganey database includes 1200 hospitals and over 60,000 physicians. Strong work, UKHealthcare!

So what does this survey mean for UK? Well, physicians in general and academic physicians in particular speak with their feet. There are many opportunities for employment elsewhere in the Commonwealth and throughout the US.

Let’s simply look at the previously very stable and successful Division of General Surgery.

Since 2012:

David Vargas MD - Colorectal -Now at Ochsner Clinic New Orleans
Heather Wright MD - Breast Surgeon -Now in private practice Florida
Shaun Mckenzie MD - Oncology -Now is Austin Texas
Shane O’Keefe MD -Vascular -Private Practice Bowling Green Kentucky
Dan Kenady MD - Oncology - Hazard Kentucky
Ehab Sorial MD - Vascular -San Francisco
Ching-Wie Tzeng MD - Oncology -Leaving for MD Anderson
Levi Procter MD - Trauma/Critical Care - Leaving for VCU
Jesse Goddard MD - Trauma - Leaving for Penn State York PA
Cherry Song MD - Trauma - Leaving for Private Practice Trauma
Paul A Kearney MD - Trauma - Limbo

The Division of General Surgery has lost more faculty in the last 4 years than in the 25 years prior to 2012. As I stated “physicians speak with their feet."


Other recent Surgical Departures

Chand Ramaiah MD - Cardiothoracic - St Thomas, Nashville
Jerry Martin MD - Cardiothoracic - Southeastern Ohio

Urologic Surgery

Ramakrishna Venkatesh MD - Urologic Oncology - Wash U, St Louis

Ophthalmology

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James Wilson
9/10/2015 02:10:59 pm

From the lengthy preamble above "One would have to say that it is quite impressive that they (the hospital and College administration) were able to take a single unsubstantiated non-threatening event like the use of bad language while saving a life...."

Clearly at least one person is willing to "substantiate" the allegations in court. its also not clear that this was a matter of life or death.


http://www.kentucky.com/2015/09/10/4029353/former-patient-sues-university.html

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Dan Noonan
9/11/2015 02:25:13 am

James, Good point, but I am fairly certain that you do not stick a tube down someones throat simply for entertainment, so I think this might be categorized as a life threatening event. It is also clear to anyone following this story that this is probably a case of some lawyer seeing the opportunity to extort money from a university. Unfortunately, the university and Michael Karpf created this monster in their efforts to get rid of a talented but outspoken trauma surgeon. The bottom line that remains for me and many others is simply "why". Having worked at this College for over 20 years and interacted with the individuals involved I feel certain the actions taken against Dr. Kearney have little to do with this incident. I may be wrong but I know for sure that there are many faculty at this College and in this hospital that simply fear this hospital administration, and for good reasons. To me this is a very sad situation for both the hospital and the academic community of the College of Medicine.

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Tycho
6/25/2016 07:24:28 am

The law suit was 'dismissed with prejudice' by the judge after the patient's two lawyers quit on him--drumroll---because there was no case. Go google 'dismissed with prejudice'. This is not about Kearney being profane.

This is about Dr Kearney requesting a KMSF audit of physician generated funds being used by Dr Karpf as if it were his own hedge fund. Loans to friends' labs & outside UKMC private projects. Private jets to Europe to buy art. Missing money. Employees fired for refusing to play the game thus generating whistle blowing lawsuits after they've been fired. Forged documents & lies to the BoT who clearly are more enamored of their BBall tickets & luncheons then they are of protecting the University-- or they are in on it? because no one is that stupid. Is it just too much work & bother to do their job? This is a big hot mess & it's not going to go away any time soon folks. Frankfort is watching. Louisville is watching. CNN is watching.

You should't wonder why we are at the bottom of every list they put in front of the 50 states. In the top 5 ( that's the bottom 5 y'all) for cancer, obesity, smoking, poverty, drugs blah blah blah ad infinatum.
Where's the embarrassment & outrage?
Behavior like this from Karfpaluoto would be exhibit A in explaining that bottom percentile. Two east coast failures trying to tell us all how to do it. Very sad for UK.

Mike Karpf
9/10/2015 02:11:31 pm

Haters gonna hate!

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Dan Noonan
9/11/2015 02:38:42 am

Hmmmm, don't really know what to reply to this. If this really is Michael Karpf, I suspect only you would know the truth of this declaration. Furthermore, if this really is Michael Karpf, I have absolutely no hate for you but do wish you would do the right thing for this university. That being retire and let someone else lead this Hospital.

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Scott Campbell
9/13/2015 05:37:32 pm

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Jarrod
10/11/2015 09:09:15 am

Earlier this year Michael Karpf said he planned to begin construction on two more floors of Chandler Medical Center if state bonds could be released. The last day of the 2015 legislative session included $132.5 million in state bonds approved for a new cancer research facility on the UK campus. Perhaps coincidentally, plans moved forward for the two floors shortly thereafter. Below is the news release concerning the bonds...

"Medical research center. HB 298 will make possible the construction of a state-of-the-art medical research center to target prevalent diseases in Kentucky, including cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. The legislation authorizes the issuance of $132.5 million in bonds to help build the research center at the University of Kentucky. The university will raise an equal amount for the $265 million research building."

If someone can show that one dollar of this has gone into the UKHealthcare enterprise it would be a huge story.

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Jarrod
10/24/2015 09:21:58 am

Timely article in todays Herald-Leader. Good to see Karpf isn't getting his hands on that money. I'm sure he still sees it as a win for his ego.

That $265 million dollar building is going to make "death a beggar." Hard to believe that amount of money couldn't have a bigger impact on the state's health issues spent another way. I'm all for spending towards research on cancer...not just on the building. There is plenty of work to do first on public eduaction, prevention and access to care in this state.

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Jarrod
10/11/2015 10:08:54 am

In attempts to cover the costs of his burdening enterprise, Michael Karpf is competing ruthlessly against local hospitals and doctors. Using state fund (in essence) to put false and insulting statements on billboards around central KY. "Offering treatments no one else can." "Second opinions and second chances."

He is using the health exchange medicaid population to strong arm rural medical centers and doctors into sending all their patient to UK since they accept their medicaid. Some of these medicaid plans are only covered at UKHealthcare. No other medical centers can afford the contracts without the notion that state funds can bail them out. Karpf says he is creating a system, "too big to fail." We've heard that before.

Additionally, Karpf is taking nursing staff from area hospitals to care for the increased volume. Volume needed only to cover costs of his 1 billion dollar unfinished hospital. He is using the state supported university benefits to recruits those nurses. Mainly, generous retirement contributions and steep discounts in tuition for the children of those nurses. I believe they offer 50% off their tuition if they stay with the hospital 5 years.

UKHealthcare has long since had the volume necessary for medical education. The current need is about money, and sadly, the volume has reach levels which are making time for training and education difficult. The residence and fellows are bearing the burden of Karpf's policy not to turn any business away.

This is going to cost all Kentuckians. The Herald-Leader has reported that over Karpf's reign the UKHealthcare portion of the overall university budget has climbed from 14% to 41%. Meanwhile, we see UK report record tuition increases, out sourcing housing and food services and accepting a record number of out-of-state students (to cover increasing cost).

Wake up Kentucky. A university should enhance and compliment local healthcare, not try put it out of business. Karpf's actions are unstaring and driving up costs for all area hospitals as they try to retain nurses and compete against state tax dollars.

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Dan Noonan
10/11/2015 10:57:27 am

Very informative Jarrod and I am not surprised by any of this. I remember when I served on the College of Medicine Faculty Council that many of the physicians serving on that council were critical of the new RVU system for defining physician pay. Basically this system prioritizes number of patients seen, and many of the physicians felt it was adversely impacting the quality of care. Why UK Medical Center (meaning the administration that runs it) feels this is some sort of competition and it has to drive other local hospitals out of business is beyond me. Michael Karpf tried these approaches out at UCLA and nearly bankrupt them. Unfortunately, we have a university president who likewise feels that buildings are more important than the people that occupy them.

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Jake
10/11/2015 01:44:54 pm

Funny, because UKHealthcare markets the following....

UK HealthCare physicians are paid a salary. They do not rely on a fee for each service they provide to generate their income. Therefore, their economic incentive to perform or order unnecessary medical tests or procedures or to withhold necessary care is minimized and their incentive to help one another is encouraged.

This can be found at...
http://ukhealthcare.uky.edu/publications/healthsmart/multispecialty/

Lies, lies, lies.

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Dan Noonan
10/11/2015 02:19:52 pm

Jake, I was not a physician in the Medical Center but, what little I know of it, I believe what the administration and the lawyers at UK might argue is that the RVU system only impacts the bonuses these physicians receive. Perhaps one of the university physicians reading this blog might be willing to enlighten us. All I know of it is that if the physicians I interacted with felt the RVU system was incentivizing patient numbers over patient care. This being the case, it simply speaks to the argument that Jarrod was making above. Basically this university and this hospital administration have their priorities all screwed up, but I think that has become fairly self-evident in the Paul Kearney vendetta they have undertaken.

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Old RN
9/8/2016 01:25:52 pm

I just want to say that I worked with Dr. Kearney for over 13 years. Yes , he is tough, yes he speaks his mind but He KNOWS what he is doing and he IS the BEST trauma surgeon in the country in my opinion. I think what Dr. Karpf has done to him is just "backstabbing, blackmail, bully, rotten scoundrel" activity. Since Dr. Karpf would rather draw in $656,000 or more a year not including bonuses and scimming off the revenue he hides, he acts like he bought UK for himself. You can only go so long until you provide the noose around your own neck and slip up. I pray for Dr. Kearney daily and hope that in the end he will display the true person Dr. Karpf is..Sadly the trauma department and level 1 status will never be the same and is on the verge of collapse. We can never make up this kind of loss.

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Stephanie Conner
9/16/2016 08:23:31 pm

Who else is hoping Kearney get Karpf's job when he retires? What a sweet victory that would be!!!

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