Dallas Morning News: Regulators Changed Records after Parkland Failed Surprise Visit

This is an intriguing story just pregnant with politics involving an election, UT Southwestern, Parkland Memorial Hospital, where UTSW residents train, and Dr. Larry Gentilello, UTSW's former Chief of the Burn, Trauma, and Critical Care Division, who filed a lawsuit against UT Southwestern after being demoted and having his pay cut for, he claims, reporting--to UTSW, not any outside agency--that residents were performing unsupervised surgeries.  An excerpt from "Parkland Flunked Key Inspection, Then the Record Was Changed":

Parkland flunked key inspection, then the record was changed | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Breaking News for Dallas-Fort Worth | Dallas Morning News

An inspector found that patients were being operated on without proper consent and that it wasn't clear from records who was performing surgery – trainee-doctors or fully licensed surgeons. Federal regulators warned Parkland that it risked losing its financial lifeline – Medicaid and Medicare payments for its mostly poor patients.

"These deficiencies have been determined to be of such a serious nature as to substantially limit your hospital's capacity to render adequate care," said a letter to Dr. Ron Anderson, Parkland's president and chief executive.

But about a week before the election, according to documents recently obtained by The Dallas Morning News, regulators met with Parkland officials, received new information and rewrote their findings to give Parkland the all-clear. All of this remained out of public view, and voters approved spending $747 million for the new hospital.

Those who wish to read more about these allegations may also visit the blog UT Southwestern and Parkland Hospital Stories: UT Southwestern and Parkland Don't Want You to Know This. Background on the Gentilello case is linked in the Zemanta box below. 

Related articles by Zemanta

• Ut Southwestern V. Dr. Larry M. Gentilello (reamy.typepad.com)
• the Legal Debate Over Utsw Dr. Gentillelo's Whistleblower Status (reamy.typepad.com)
• UT Southwestern and Parkland Hospital Stories: UT Southwestern and Parkland, Unsupervised Surgery? Sure, how else are residents going to learn? (reamy.typepad.com)
• Interview of Utsw's Billing Compliance Director (reamy.typepad.com)
• Utsw and Dallas County Hospital District Both Building New Hospitals (reamy.typepad.com)