The hospital and the watchdog
Lou Marzeles
News Editor
If Delbert Brown had his way, much of the management staff and the hospital commissioners at Klickitat Valley Health (KVH) would be fired and/or go to jail.
"The corruption at the hospital has got to go," the Goldendale resident says, and from there he can go into exhaustive detail on the multitude of grievous errors of which, to his sense, the hospital administration and commissioners are guilty. As in every situation, the story has two sides, and some on the other side of this story point to Brown's own statements to suggest he is, in the end, after money.
"We had a meeting with Delbert and his wife on March 11, 2009," says KVH Development Director Jeff Teal. "At that meeting, Delbert told us, 'Give me money and I'll go away.' "
Brown denies any attempt to extort money from the hospital, calling it fabricated retaliation for his tenacity. "That was never what I wanted," he says. "I did want a money settlement for a matter involving illegal sharing of personal medical information, but that was different."
"That's not what he said to us," Teal says. "It was, 'Give me money or I go public with everything I know.' "
Brown was asked about some of his email messages to KVH staff, obtained (in the process of acquiring broad background information for this article) through public information requests. In one email dated March 6, 2009, to Teal, Brown writes, "If your administration can get me happy, 99 percent of your problems at KVH will quit being made public through media. I can be reasonable." In another email, dated March 14, 2009, Brown writes to former interim KVH CEO Phil Hanna, "Settle this with my wife and I, and my part of caring, of going any further, will be over. I believe if you people are smart, you will not make me file a lawsuit." The same point appears repeatedly through much of Brown's emails. Brown acknowledges writing the emails but contends they do not reflect an intention to extort money, though he did not address his choice of words.
"Did I once mention money?" Brown asked, to make his point. "There's no mention in the emails about money. Maybe I just wanted an apology."
Asked if an apology would have ended his complaints with the hospital, he replied, "It would have helped."
Brown has a pile of three-ring binders filled with what he considers evidentiary proof of his charges of hospital corruption, and the sheer volume of his own correspondence over the last few years with KVH, written and emailed, could easily fill many more binders. And that doesn't include his communication with state auditors, the county prosecuting attorney, the state attorney general, and various civic officials, including the governor's office.
The latter produced a congratulatory letter to Brown from Gov. Chris Gregoire for his watchdog role. Similar letters to him have come from state senator Jim Honeyford and Goldendale mayor Arletta Parton. The response from these officials seems to stem from action taken by some Brown supporters to bring his activities to broader public visibility, as well as from some clearly positive outcomes from Brown's initiatives. The staff at KVH readily concur that some of what Brown has uncovered has been useful and has led to corrective action at the hospital.
"There is no question that Delbert has brought up useful information," says KVH commissioners president Jim Daniel. "And we've expressed our appreciation for that and taken corrective actions where appropriate." At the same time, Daniel made it clear that the volume and tone of Brown's communication created challenges for the hospital. In a letter to Brown on Nov. 6, 2009, Daniel wrote, "I respect your right to 'privately' oversee the hospital, but you have no private or statutory right/authority per the RCWs to make demands that the KVH CFO/CEO do something only as you request, especially within the context of implied blackmail or in a threatening manner." Daniel was alluding to Brown's continual demands for certain actions to be taken by hospital administration, commonly over the last few years (and over different administrations at the hospital) to resign or fire personnel, and his assertions that non-compliance with his demands would result in litigation or public disclosure of what he considered wrong-doings.
Emails from Brown to varied KVH administrators received such a volume that recently a decision was made by the hospital, on advice of legal counsel, to inform Brown that henceforward his communications would be channeled only to Teal and that response to him would be forthcoming only if legally required, such as to respond to public records requests. Brown took sharp exception to the new policy, calling it another indication of illegal retaliation.
Brown's list of charges against KVH over the years is broad, and he has definitely had some hits. He uncovered procedural misconduct by a prior CFO, and a state auditors' report for 2006 released in April last year confirmed some of Brown's claims. In an interview with The Sentinel in May 2009, Hanna acknowledged, "Clearly there were policies and procedures that were not followed as they should have been. In some cases, the internal controls weren't what they should have been." Hanna also added, "From my perspective and from what I've seen in audits over the years, there's nothing in this audit that I would consider staggeringly bad. It points out that there was a conflict of interest. That situation doesn't exist any more. And the lack of some appropriate policies has been corrected by policies that we have brought to the board, and they have been approved."
More recently, Brown made a charge that the KVH commissioners were overcharging for their time at the hospital. A KVH review indicated that some overcharges had been made, as had some undercharges; the net amount overcharged was about $100, according to the review. "We found that the procedures needed to be corrected, and they have been," current KVH CEO MaLisa Mudgett said at the time. "We acknowledge that Mr. Brown did identify this error."
To Brown, the hospital's list of errors are grievous and actionable, including misuse or loss of large sums of money, and the hospital has had an answer to each charge, some in acknowledgement and correction and some qualified as inaccurately represented by Brown.
Teal recently addressed Brown's charge that the hospital has had to settle or has lost every case of wrongful employee dismissal, something that incenses Brown as an indication of KVH's wanton irresponsibility.
"The information on those cases doesn't reflect additional factors," Teal said. "You don't always see what was going on in those situations from the public information."
Brown charges that the hospital is stonewalling its complicity behind such cases as Kim Milburn, who was dismissed, according to Brown, for standing up to the hospital against its illegal use of unlicensed software.
Milburn expresses deep appreciation for Brown in the matter. "I came to him, and he helped," she says. "He's stood by me every step of the way, and he's gone out of his way to help me when I had no way of getting by after being dismissed."
Brown's supporters see him as the voice of righteous indignation, standing up as an individual fed up with corruption. Others point to the almost incessant theme in his messages, going back over years, for a settlement of some kind.
Teal also says that for all Brown's insistence that the hospital has wasted or misused monies, Brown himself has cost the hospital at least $40,000 over the last three years. In response to a public records request, Teal provided a document indicating that Brown cost the hospital $27,720 in administrative staff and support staff time, and an additional $12,690 in attorney fees.
"Delbert Brown has occasionally identified needs for KVH process improvement," Teal wrote in his letter. "But the overwhelming majority of the concerns initiated by Mr. Brown have not been considered valid or of material importance by the investigations, audits, and litigation. The time and costs associated with Delbert Brown have significantly detracted from the resources to govern, operate, and audit KVH services to the community."
Brown calls the expenses total fabrication and claims it to be actionable as illegal retaliation. "I considered this slanderous," Brown wrote in a subsequent email. "Please review the state audit [referenced earlier]. I have proof of everything they reported as findings."
"The information that was released is not relevant," Teal responds in dismissing Brown's charge of illegal retaliation. Even if Brown were a whistleblower as defined by state law, Teal says "the RCW whistleblower definition refers to complaints to the Department of Health about improper quality of care from a health care provider, not complaints about administrative or governance actions or about litigation that is a matter of public record. The allegation that KVH's release of information in response to a public record request is some form of retaliation is ironic given the frequency and nature of the public records requests made by Delbert Brown."
Brown says that if the costs KVH estimates were incurred in dealing with him were accurate, they are little compared to what he is saving the taxpayers in waylaid or misused funds at the hospital. "Wait till the 2007-2008 audit comes out in February," he says. He predicts the audit will show a very large sum of money gone missing or misused, in particular funds related to KVH's purchase of Golden View Terrace (GVT). Brown maintains the audit will show major misuse.
"There is an acquisition fund from the bond for the purchase of GVT," says KVH CFO Leslie Hiebert. "Bonds were approved for this in April 2007, and GVT was purchased for $4 million." A copy of the bond closing memorandum was obtained through a public records request, and it shows a transaction of $4,004,257.62 from the county treasurer's account.
The hospital's annual independent audit for the years 2007 and 2008, prepared by LeMaster Daniels CPA firm and used as a reference by state audits, was also obtained through a public records request. It shows no findings, which means there were no problems identified in the audit. "And when the state was here recently conducting their audit," Hiebert says, "they didn't request any documents related to the GVT purchase. For Delbert to claim that the audit will show something-it's hard for me to see that."
Delbert Brown, the watchdog who won't go away, will wait and see. In the meantime, Teal indicates the hospital will not settle with Brown or compensate him in any way, despite his continual demands. "It's time for formal process," Teal says.
Police complete three arrests over holiday weekend
Andrew Christiansen
Reporter
Other than assisting the Klickitat County Sheriff's Office on a bomb threat at the county jail, last week, drug possession arrests topped the list of action for the Goldendale Police. According to the police, a bomb threat was called in to the jail around 3:30 p.m. on Dec. 28. The Sheriff's Office handled the situation but have released no information on the incident.
On New Year's Eve, Officer Dwayne Matulavich stopped Danita Thew, 48, of Goldendale, near the courthouse at 7:45 p.m. Officer Matulavich recognized Thew as someone wanted on a warrant from Clark County for disorderly conduct. Thew was arrested and while being booked in the Klickitat County jail, was found to be in possession of marijuana and a smoking device. She was charged with misdemeanor possession under 40 grams and was subsequently transferred to Clark County on the outstanding warrant.
The arrest was one of three drug-related arrests for Officer Matulavich who stopped on Observatory Hill the previous night to render assistance for a vehicle parked on the side of the road. Matulavich found two occupants who claimed they were going sledding and he noticed a smell of marijuana. The occupants admitted to smoking marijuana and a pipe was recovered. Matulavich also found an 18 pack of beer in the vehicle and the pair were arrested for being minors in possession of alcohol.
The third arrest came on Jan. 2 at 7:30 p.m. Matulavich had a tip that Jordan Prociw, 20, of Goldendale, was at an apartment at Golden Arms Apartments. Prociw was wanted for violating a court order and failure to appear on a minor in possession of alcohol charge. Prociw was at the apartment and cooperated with Officer Matulavich. He was found to be in possession of a marijuana pipe in one pocket and another pipe that Prociw said was used for meth in the other pocket. Prociw was arrested and the meth pipe was sent to a police lab for testing.
The three arrests weren't the only action for Officer Matulavich who was called to a residence on South Klickitat Street for a domestic disturbance incident. He found an apparently intoxicated Aurelio Rojo, 41, at the residence. A female resident asked for Rojo to be removed. Matulavich took Rojo, dressed in boxers and wrapped in a blanket to the local motels where he was unable to rent a room. Rojo decided he would walk to some other location and headed down Simcoe Drive. Rojo was arrested for disorderly conduct and spent New Year's night in jail. |
