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Show Story may surprise, but health care 4finev Today the Iron County Record starts a two part series on health care in Iron County, and the results will be surprising to at least a few people in the area. However, the results from over a month of research and interviews with 20 or more people are quite clear to us: although there are some isolated problems in the area with medical and health care, the overall picture is extremely bright. Despite the rumors and stories, Iron County has a fine hospital facility and fine doctors. Editor Bruce Lee has spent many hours during the past month tracking down "horror" stories that had come into the Record office of mistreatment at the Valley View Medical Center by nurses, doctors, technicians and staff. Except for one possible case, each of these stories have proven to be unsubstantiated un-substantiated and generally untrue. Stories of mismanagement and poor administration ad-ministration have also been numerous, but again there seem to be no concrete stories. Unfortunately some of these stories have circulated cir-culated our way because of the recent controversy concerning Dr. Thomas Hargis and the suspension of his obstetrical privileges at the hospital by the Medical Staff. Because of ethical reasons and confidentiality laws, we don't really know what the charges against Hargis were, but we do know that such suspensions are not uncommon and that they are generally done to improve patient care not to chase a doctor out of town. We hope, as does Dr. Hargis, that things in that area can get back to normal and he can have a happy, prosperous practice in Cedar City. However, we would also like to point out to the local doctors something they probably already know. They are dealing with human lives and emotions in their business. Thus their responsibility is great. Yet, we also feel, after this research, that the doctors in Cedar City are doing a very good job. Not many rural towns can claim the health care people and facilities that Cedar City can. The problem, as we see it, can be summed up in one word: gossip. Most of the stories we have heard of poor medical treatment have come to us by way of " I heard it from so-and-so, who heard it from somebody else, who heard it from ..." When we traced the story back to the original so-and-so, things had changed quite dramatically from the story we heard second- or third-hand. The hospital and the doctors in this town seem to police themselves quite well. If there is a problem (and there have been some) they try to clear it up. We would suggest that if a patient or a family member has a problem with services or any other aspect of health care they contact first their doctor, then the hospital administrator and then a member of the hospital governing board, made up entirely of local citizens. The chairman of the governing board is currently Darrel Matthews. This is not to say that there is not room for improvement. im-provement. We would hope that everyone would look carefully at why so many rumors of bad care are circulating and then do something to correct it, even if it is a public relations campaign. As Lee was writing the articles for this series, one comment that he kept repeating was that "they will never believe it. They will think that we are hiding something or that we don't have our facts." However, if you don't believe the articles of the next two weeks, there is a way to find out for yourself. Get the right story. Talk to the people involved, instead of talking to someone across your backyard fence. |