Attacks on Sutter must end

I attended the Marin Healthcare District board meeting on May 15 and once again heard Sutter Health, which has been managing Marin General Hospital for a decade, described as the devil incarnate.

A small group of vocal critics for years has been continually subjecting Marin residents to accusations of myriad deficiencies of the Sutter system. Now Sutter will leave and we have a problem - how to finance a very expensive hospital.

Let me set the record straight. Sutter is not perfect. No hospital management company is in this day and age, when payers are progressively and irresponsibly usurping a significant percentage of the health-care dollar.

With respect to Marin General, I have no ax to grind. I practice at California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco and have done so for 25 years. Some 15 years ago, California Pacific was losing a million dollars a month on operations and would not have survived for long. We then became a Sutter affiliate. California Pacific is not only operating successfully, but recently was judged one of the top 50 medical centers in the country by the respected Leapfrog Group. Other hospitals so designated include Cedars-Sinai, Massachusetts General, Duke University, Johns Hopkins and the Mayo Clinic.

Sutter played a significant role in the success of California Pacific Medical Center. Why not Marin General Hospital?

I would hope the "Gang of 5" might cease and desist in their continual criticism of Sutter and MGH. Perhaps then the residents of Marin might have a chance to appreciate what an assest they have in Marin General Hospital - but may not have for long.

Thomas H. Cromwell, M.D., Belvedere

http://www.marinij.com/letters/ci_6009789