Chang Gung Medical Foundation Steering Committee chairman Lee Shih-tseng (李石增) yesterday said he was being scapegoated for mass resignations of emergency room (ER) doctors at Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in Taoyuan’s Guishan District (龜山) late last month.
Lee reportedly fired the head of the hospital’s department of emergency medicine, Chen Jih-chang (陳日昌), and its director, Chiu Te-fa (邱德發), which resulted in the resignations of 41 of their subordinates.
Following the incident, foundation chairwoman Diana Wang (王瑞慧) at the end of last month returned from the US to meet with hospital management.
The hospital later announced that Lee and hospital superintendent Cheng Ming-hui (鄭明輝) resigned from their posts and that actions taken against other doctors would be repealed.
At a news conference in Taipei yesterday, Lee said through his lawyer that the hospital management made him a scapegoat.
In a hospital management meeting before the incident, Chen and Chiu were found to have transferred hospital funds to the Emergency Medication and Critical Care Development Foundation, where they served as board members, Lee said.
Lee said that after Wang dismissed the two and caused the mass resignations, he called on the hospital to show the results of the investigation to the ER doctors, but the management ignored his suggestion.
“Wang aims to sacrifice me to save herself. She has even told people that I have resigned,” Lee said, adding that he has not tendered his resignation.
Lee said he decided to speak up because many of his patients are unable to reach him and that their treatments have been affected over the past two weeks.
He confirmed media reports that he had published a statement on Facebook on Wednesday last week saying he would not commit suicide, adding that Facebook is an emotional outlet where he can connect with people who believe in him.
A neurosurgeon should stay cool-headed and work problems out, he said.
“Unless my personal security is guaranteed, I will not speak more on this matter,” he said, adding that he and his family received threats after the resignations.
Later yesterday, the hospital also called a news conference, with Wang saying that Lee’s remarks “ran counter to the truth.”
Thirty doctors tendered their resignations, but after a week of negotiations, 10 of them expressed their inclination to stay, hospital spokesperson Huang Jing-long (黃璟隆) said, adding that the hospital also agreed on some doctors’ requirement for more rest time.
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