Two late-breaking developments:
- John Odgren, convicted last week of killing a fellow student, James Alenson, at Lincoln Sudbury Regional High School, has been committed to Bridgewater State Hospital, reports Northeastern criminologist James Alan Fox. Someone, at least, is approaching this case with some compassion.
- Paul Levy, president and CEO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, has issued a statement from the board and a personal apology for the behavior that led to a kerfuffle last week. What exactly happened remains murky, but perhaps this is all we’re entitled to know. It seems to me that he’s handled this as straightforwardly as can be expected. He remains as respected a public citizen as we have in Boston, and I hope this is the end of it.
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BP Myers
@Dan said: What exactly happened remains murky, but perhaps this is all we’re entitled to know.
Folks are issuing public statements, so they obviously believe we’re entitled to know something. But they’re telling us nothing.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but I haven’t even heard it was a “personnel matter,” that convenient catch-all that allows them to maintain a wall of silence.
It stinks, Dan, and you know it.
Neil Sagan
Why is Dan Kennedy carrying Levy’s water?
Why does the BI not provide health insurance for its workers?
tobe berkovitz
Vis-a-vis Paul Levy. Perhaps he and his PR minions at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center can now coin a new social media strategy: the semi-transparent but only when we want it modified limited hang out. It seems to me this is a news story. Levy has preached transparency for other hospital problems. I guess there’s a difference between medical issues and personal scandals.
Dan Kennedy
@Tobe: (1) At this point, what don’t we know that’s worth knowing? It does seem to be the usual, doesn’t it? (2) Of course there’s a difference between medical issues and personal scandals.
tobe berkovitz
Dan wrote, “(2) Of course there’s a difference between medical issues and personal scandals.” For better (and frequently for worse) they are both news stories.
BP Myers
@Dan says: Of course there’s a difference between medical issues and personal scandals.
I recall a doctor leaving the operating room a few years ago to go cash his check so he could buy drugs.
Sometimes, the lines between personal and medical issues intersect.
Dan Kennedy
@BP: One of the great Boston stories of the past 10 years!
PE Stack
Wasn’t there an issue in 2006 with CEO Robert Haddad of the Caritas Christi hospital chain. He was run out of the town for instances of physical contact with a few co-workers. I seem to remember the Globe making this a very prominent case and lioning their VP HR Helen Drinan for her role as whistle-blower.
I just found this link: http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2006/05/21/omalley_reprimands_caritas_chief/
You can pick apart the differences between the two cases, but note the activism that the Globe (and presumably other liberal thought leaders) took in this case. Done so for several reasons in my opinion: because the CEO didn’t share the politics of Paul Levy and the fact that they are a Catholic hospital that doesn’t support abortions.
BP Myers
@Dan said: One of the great Boston stories of the past 10 years!
Amen, Dan, straight outa the “you couldn’t make it up” department.
Loved the recent “Whatever Happened To?” follow-up Boston Magazine did recently as well. We need more of those.
BP Myers
Boston Globe Magazine, I should say.
PE Stack
Looks like this isn’t going away…
Does anyone else think it’s ridiculous for the AG to be involved in this.
Neil Sagan
Paul Levy hired his mistress (also his former student) as soon as he got the job as CEO.
He continued to be her supervisor for over two years. She made over $100,000 per year when she was laid off.
He concealed their relationship until an anonymous whistle-blower reported it to the board of trustees.
It is a violation of his authority to hire her.
It is a violation of personnel policy for him to be her supervisor, which goes to the issues of fairness in the workplace, and sets a unacceptably low standard for professional behavior at the BI (BY THE CEO!)
That the trustees let him off with a wrist slap (well two trustees resigned over the matter) is an outrage. It signals the board’s complicity with ongoing abuse of the public trust.
Neil Sagan
“Does anyone else think it’s ridiculous for the AG to be involved in this.”
Yes, the chairmen is looking the the AG to bless the wrist-slap ($50,000 levy to Levy.) She’s represents the interests of the public – it’s a non-profit. She’ll deliver get more of what Coakley delivers – accommodation for the connected and powerful, accountability for the unwashed masses.
Two board members have resigned. One on May 3 and one on May 4. It seems clear they have resigned over the Levy “hire your fu@% buddy” incident.
She worked directly for Levy for two years. What do you think that work environment was like with Levy and she pretended their secret was secure and everyone else in the room knowing they were screwing after hours and everyone else resenting the inequitable treatment?
Shouldn’t every hiring manager at the BI be able to hire their mistress and get off with a wrist slap. Shouldn’t patients know they may be treated by a person who is certainly qualified as a fu@% buddy … maybe qualified for the job but maybe not?
Most of all, Levy carried on for two years and it wasn’t until his abuse of the authority of his position was called out by an anonymous whistle-blower that he began to correct the situation and show regret. Two years? Doesn’t that illustrate the fact that no one dared bring it to his attention which is exactly why you can’t hire your fu@% buddy and then be his or her direct supervisor?
Neil Sagan
Why is Dan Kennedy carrying Levy’s water?