An open letter to WMC Board President Ben Wyatt

(At the start of Wednesday's Winneshiek Medical Center Board of Trustees meeting,Board President Ben Wyatt discussed the issue of four of his relatives working at the hospital.  Wyatt criticized news coverage of the question of whether this represented a conflict of interest,saying "These media attacks are appalling." Wyatt said the news coverage was "designed to get me to resign" and promised he would serve the full three years remaining to his term on the hospital board.

What follows is decorahnews.com reporter Paul Scott's response):

Ben, have you actually read the article we posted about whether having four of your relatives work at the hospital is a conflict of interest?  Because you act like you haven't.  Once again, our article agreed with you that this IS NOT a conflict of interest.  Here again is the link to our article.  Click here

It is weird that we have posted dozens of news stories about the hospital and the only one drawing a response from the hospital is the one that you and I both agree about.

As for your statement that our news coverage is designed to get you to resign, that's not the goal. The goal of our news coverage is to explain the workings of Winneshiek Medical Center to the public in an effort to spur public discussion about the future of the hospital.

Unfortunately, the hospital board has not always acted like it welcomes public involvement. 

When you were asked about the public's concerns about the hospital's operations, your advice to the public was "Trust Us."  It's been obvious during the past month that the public does not want to stay on the sidelines while the hospital board makes decisions that will affect all Winneshiek County residents.

And in the past two years, the public has been kept on the sidelines.  The hospital board has met in closed session for a total of 900 minutes—an average of 65 minutes per closed session. During one of those closed sessions, the board discussed a $2 million dispute with Mayo Clinic Health Systems and whether it should fire its attorney--both issues that the public deserved to know about.

In the past month, decorahnews.com has discussed the loss of numerous doctors from Winneshiek Medical Center; the "toxic" atmosphere created by some administrators; the uncertain financial situation of the hospital; the contentious relationship between the hospital and Gundersen Lutheran and the complicated relationship between Winneshiek County and the hospital.

All of those stories have one thing in common—there has been no reaction to them from the hospital. Instead, the hospital has published a quarter page ad in the Decorah newspaper dealing with the one topic you and I agree upon—having your relatives working at the hospital is not a conflict of interest.

So let's focus on some of these real issues involving the hospital and let's welcome public involvement in resolving the issues.  Because there is one more topic you and I agree upon—Winneshiek County residents want a hospital they can be proud of.