PEORIA -- It's hardly news that the Roman Catholic church is wrong on many issues. That's been true throughout history and continues today.
What's new is that its victims and whistleblowers are not keeping quiet, perhaps because they don't fear being burned at the stake or stoned to death in the good ole separation-of-church-and-state USA.
The corruption they point to has taken a mostly modern twist: instead of denying Galileo, the church today has succumbed to the lure of power, money and sex, and the coverups required when this corruption is threatened with exposure.
Here are two accusations of Catholic church corruption in Peoria, according to whistleblowers. Church officials have denied or ignored these accusations, which at their core involve the lure of power.
SEX: The Survivor Network of Those Abused by Priests, SNAP -- ignored the snow and the 10 degree Fahrenheit temperature on Jan. 25 to leaflet Catholics leaving the main Madison Street Cathedral about sex abuses in the church.
They released an open letter to Bishop Jenky, asking him to drop the expensive legal maneuvers and settle the legal case involving Jeff Jones and others sueing over sex abuses by priests. Jones appeared at an outdoor news conference. (See post from Jan. 5, 2009, below under 'religion.')
Jones handed out this 1960s-era photo showing him as a child holding hands with Father Walter Breuning on the streets of Chicago. Note the cigarette in Breuning's hand.
The letter states: "Catholics -- If you want to see justice done, truth exposed and healing happen, please join us in prodding Bishop Jenky to act like a caring shepherd (not a cold-hearted CEO) and let this case and others get resolved."
MONEY: Dr. John Carrol, a former emergency department physician and activist for Haiti's children, has penned this statement about his former employer OSF Saint Francis Medical Center and its conflicts of interest. The Catholic diocese controls the hospital.
I was in Memphis several days ago.
I ran into a Memphis firefighter. They provide advanced life support (paramedic support) for the citizens of Memphis. The Memphis Fire Department has ambulances and transport patients to hospitals.
I ran into another firefighter who works in a suburb of Memphis. His fire department is paramedic also but they do not transport the patient. When this firefighter arrives on the scene of an emergency he told me he provides advanced life support for the patient immediately and does not have to wait for the private ambulance company to arrive. The private ambulance company then transports the patient to the hospital.
Things like this have not been in practice in Peoria until last summer when two Peoria Fire Stations were allowed to provide paramedic support. The PFD does not have an ambulance so obviously cannot transport patients like the Memphis Fire Department can.
In this weeks New England Journal of Medicine, there is an article entitled: “Online Disclosure of Physician-Industry Relationships.”
The first paragraph of the article:
“The Cleveland Clinic and some of its leading physicians have been criticized for their financial associations with industry and the limited disclosure of these relationships to patients and the public. In response, the medical center has strengthened its policies and oversight with regard to conflicts of interest and required that all industry relationships be submitted for approval. Since December 2008, it has also disclosed on its Web site (www.clevelandclinic.org) some of the industry ties of its 2000 physicians and researchers and their immediate families.”
I think that since OSF-SFMC Emergency Department Director Dr. George Hevesy has received a salary from Advanced Medical Transport in Peoria for many years, he should disclose this relationship on OSF’s website.
Dr. Hevesy was Project Medical Director for all of EMS in central Illinois which included Advanced Medical Transport and the Peoria Fire Department. Advanced Medical Transport is a paramedic agency with ambulances and transportation capabilities that has been under the supervison of Drs. Hevesy and other OSF Emergency Department physicians for the past 15 years.
Dr. Hevesy is also on the faculty at University of Illinois College of Medicine in Peoria and many medical schools across the United States require their faculty to disclose relationships they have with industry.
The Journal article also states:
“Online disclosure is the latest response to concern about financial conflicts of interest and the propriety of various associations between medicine and industry. Advantages of industry funding, such as the support of drug and device development and pivotal clinical trials, must be balanced against the disadvantages, such as the potential for influencing prescribing and use of medical devices and supplies, increasing the costs of care, fostering a mindset of entitlement among doctors, and undermining the independence and integrity of the profession."
Peoria EMS system obviously works differently than Memphis. Memphis fire agencies provide quicker care. And there is a reason for that.
People in Peoria deserve transparency regarding how our EMS system works and which medical leaders are paid by local industry.
Website disclosure of Dr. Hevesy’s financial relationship with AMT would be a start.
Sex, money, power -- we hope the Catholic diocese and its officials will choose transparency and do the right thing, but I won't be holding my breath, given the church's track record on other issues.
-- Elaine Hopkins
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