MACHIAS, Maine — The ongoing battle at Down East Community Hospital in Machias took another strange turn recently when hospital files that were believed stolen washed up on a nearby riverbank.
A Pembroke resident stumbled across the bags of documents in the Pennamaquan River earlier this month and called police. The bags were returned to the hospital, where staff spent several days sifting through the drenched documents, according to a spokesperson for the hospital.
Karen Theriault, DECH’s health information director and compliance officer, conducted an internal investigation that included interviews with several hospital staff members and determined that whoever removed the files was not authorized to do so.
“We have referred this matter to law enforcement officials for further investigation as a possible criminal act,” Wayne Dodwell, the hospital’s president and CEO said in a statement released last week. “We take this matter very seriously, and to facilitate the investigation, we are offering a reward of $1,000 for information that leads to the identification and conviction of the person[s] responsible for this act.”
As of Friday, police did not have any suspects.
The stolen documents might not be as big a concern if not for the recent and ongoing struggle among some physicians and administrators at the Machias health care facility.
A community group, the Committee to Save Our Hospital, has formed in response to what it feels has been unfair treatment of doctors and staff at DECH. Its members have picketed outside the hospital on multiple occasions and held a forum last month hosted by a national expert on the phenomenon of “sham peer review.”
Some physicians who have been fired or dismissed believe they were the targets of sham or bad faith peer review. Dodwell and other hospital leaders have stood by their practices.
On 11/15/08 at 2:49 PM,
Knightscross wrote:
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Please close this so called Hospital for the Health and Safety of the Residents of Washington County.
On 11/15/08 at 7:00 PM,
lbckool wrote:
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I agree with you knightscross that the hospital is not a very good one, but I'm sure you'd be happy to see it there if you were near there and had a heart attack or something along those lines. It's kind of a necessity in the area. If it were to close the closest hospital to those in the area would be Calais, which let's face it, if you had a heart attack in Machias, you might not survive the ride to Calais. :) It would be even worse if you live in Lubec like I do. Machias is 35 miles away and calais is 55.
On 11/15/08 at 8:22 PM,
politicallyincorrect wrote:
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No offense but I disagree with both of you. The hospital and a majority of its staff are very good. Unfortunately its administration, whether they be wrong or right has gotten itself at odds with its staff and the community to which it serves. This makes for a terrible work environment and the moral is very low. Whom ever it is that seeks to dismantle this hospital be it doctor, nurse or other, I wish you would think about what you are doing. You are jeapordizing the health and well being of those of us who depend on DECH for our healthcare needs. Please focus your strength on fixing the issues by removing yourself from the staff. The team at DECH is only as good as the people on it. BTW... I recently had my gall bladder removed there and I was very pleased with Dr. Massad and the team of nurses in ASU. Thank you for your continued dedication to the patients at DECH!
On 11/15/08 at 9:54 PM,
DowneastIdiot wrote:
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As long as you dont need to see Dr. He-She
On 11/16/08 at 8:14 AM,
downeastmom wrote:
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DowneastIdiot, your name fits you. Politicallyincorrect, The staff at DECH is not at odds with Administration that is the spin that the MVNO has put on a phyisician's view. Sure moral is low because that is all the media has demanded of the staff. This case of stolen files is a tragic event in a long list of events. Stolen - that is exactly what has happened. I hope whom ever the thief is the inside of jail cell was what that person was looking for. As an employee of DECH you (the thief) have crossed a line that can never been crossed.
On 11/16/08 at 9:23 AM,
anewday wrote:
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DowneastIdiot, half of your name speaks for itself based on your comment 11/15/08 9:54PM. Grow up. There are more good people at DECH than not who offer excellent care. The issues at hands are about a cadre of a few that destoys many good people. Why are so many fine staff leaving DECH, that is what people need to ask.
On 11/16/08 at 11:02 AM,
jazzyshell wrote:
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Knightscross, you are wrong!!! This hospital does NOT need to close, it just needs to be cleaned out from the inside with the crooked staff that is working there, but that does not make it a dangerous hospital by no means!!! Considering myself, I have had 4 MAJOR operations there, my family has had 3 Major surgeries there, we all came through fine, no problems, the staff & DR was wonderful, the hospital is a nice hospital, but as the saying goes, "it only takes one rotten apple to spoil the whole bunch", this is what seems to be the problem at hand, and hopefully for your sake and others, if you really do need medical help from that hospital, they will be there to help you. Have a nice day :o)
On 11/16/08 at 12:59 PM,
DowneastIdiot wrote:
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Like a few years ago a young man was there for surgery and died in ICU after surgery after he threw up and jchoked to death on it. GREAT CARE. More recently someone went there with sever blod clotting was sent home, later that night went back and was about to be sent home again when a case worker came in and said no she needs to go to bangor NOW. By the time they got to bangor the clot was too sever and she could not be saved. GREAT CARE
On 11/16/08 at 1:03 PM,
DowneastIdiot wrote:
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Sure there are a few good doctors there, but there are GREAT ones who have been pushed out
On 11/16/08 at 4:56 PM,
Bangorian wrote:
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I'd consider removing my gall-bladder myself before I'd let them do it at that hospital.
On 11/16/08 at 6:16 PM,
pcme2000 wrote:
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I can't believe that Karen Theriault had to investagate to figure out "that whoever removed the files was not authorized to do so." I wonder how long it took her to figure that one out.
On 11/16/08 at 7:49 PM,
DowneastIdiot wrote:
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LMAO pcme2000. Wonder how long the ivestigation took her. When would someone be authorized to remove files and throw them in the river???Maybe when they are covering up something
On 11/16/08 at 9:44 PM,
downeastmom wrote:
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Downeastidiot - covering up what?
On 11/16/08 at 11:45 PM,
DowneastIdiot wrote:
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not saying anything was covered up, but a good question would be what are these files about?
On 11/17/08 at 6:39 AM,
mainer87 wrote:
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My question is.......if the files were so missed why hasnt there been anything in the paper about them being gone and needing help to find them??? And downeastidiot is 100% correct the young man being talked about did die he was a family member of mine and it was from neglect in my opinion!
On 11/17/08 at 12:06 PM,
FLmainah wrote:
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The reason the files got stolen at this time is because some of the Administrators were away at a conference. It has nothing to do with the administration, it has to do with untrustworthy staff.
On 11/25/08 at 9:38 PM,
concerned08 wrote:
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Knightcross: Ignorant people like you are not aware of the wonderful people and wonderful care that is given to patients at DECH. I sure hope that you don't suddenly develop chest pain and can't be life flighted to Bangor because people like you put DECH out of business...hummm...something to think about.
On 11/25/08 at 9:41 PM,
concerned08 wrote:
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DowneastIdiot: Did you think up your username all by yourself or did your mommy help you?
On 11/26/08 at 6:35 PM,
batwood wrote:
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concerned08 if Knightcross gets chest pain he better hope that life flight is here to take him to a real hospital they fired the cardiologist remember????
On 11/27/08 at 8:53 AM,
concerned08 wrote:
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batwood: Of course I remember? Who doesn't remember? But just because someone gets chest pain doesn't mean that DECH can't lifeflight them, I would hope that you would know that. Many lives have been saved since the cardiologist left, they have been lifeflighted (if the chopper wasn't grounded due to weather). Even when the cardiologist was here in Machias patients were lifeflighted with cardiac issues, the dr had to treat them and ship them because the hospital does not have the technology to deal with cardiac patients.
On 12/14/08 at 2:35 PM,
LubecMason wrote:
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There are lots of wonderful Dr's and nurses at DECH. Most of the nurses I am sure are under paid and worth alot more. But the emergency department is questionable at best. Dr.Morrin is a poor Doctor with no bed side mannor at all. I had 2 experiances with him / her. 1, Dr.Morrin did such a poor job I need 3 surgerys to fix what it ignored. And 2, I brought a little kid in there with a broken limb and Dr. Morrin told the child to keep quiet then kept us there for over 6 hours to say it couldnt do any thing and send us to Bangor. Where I find it questionable that DECH will ever get their stuff togeather with poor management like they seem to have in abundance. Stolen files are on the bottom of the list when it comes to management trying to fund raise.
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