Ohio Hospital Loses 27 ER Doctors

(Lake County, Ohio) This week, 27 emergency room doctors and physicians assistants were let go by Lake Health Hospitals.

According to Gary Robinson, vice president of government and community affairs for Lake Health, it was a good business decision.

The 27 medical professionals worked through Lake Emergency Services Inc. whose contract with Lake Health was allowed to lapse in favor of a new group, EmCare.

EmCare reportedly gave all 27 doctors the option of remaining with Lake Health but they chose to leave. Comments with the linked article suggest that doctors were offered the opportunity to stay but with an unacceptable pay cut.

My take on the "business decision" to effectively jettison an entire emergency medical community is that it is reckless and arrogantly based on the assumption that doctors grow on trees. They don't. Check the news. Check Google. There's a scarcity of doctors worldwide. The U.S. and other modern nations have learned to rely on imported doctors who, in many cases, are less than fluent in English.

Under the category of prudent business decisions, you probably won't find "Kick 27 doctors to the curb and hope for 27 as replacements."

Heh.