Health System Community,
As you have likely heard, we are currently conducting an internal review stemming from allegations of child pornography possession by one of our house officers. Early findings have identified significant problems with how initial reporting of these allegations was handled. This is troubling to many of us, and, as CEO of the Health System, I wanted to share with you my thoughts and perspectives.
The creation, use and distribution of child pornography is appalling on every level, and in situations like this when there are mistakes in how such a situation was handled, human nature makes us want to quickly identify and resolve the problem. However, jumping to quick conclusions and making assumptions with partial information isn’t the answer. That’s why the University is engaged in a comprehensive review into what went wrong in this particular case. This review and taking appropriate action are top priorities for President Coleman, for me and for leadership across the Health System and the University. We will make improvements to prevent this from happening again.
In a recent message to the Health System community, I wrote that our obligation to promote and ensure health and wellness goes beyond caring for individual patients and their families. We also have a responsibility to ensure and promote the health and wellness of communities and to protect and care for the community’s most vulnerable members. This remains true.
I want to take this opportunity to remind you – our valuable Health System faculty and staff – that it is our collective responsibility to be diligent in reporting behaviors and actions that are inappropriate, and that we applaud and support those who have the courage to do so. It isn’t always easy to speak up, but it is always the right thing to do. And it is my and all leadership’s responsibility to thoroughly and timely investigate reported concerns.
We accomplish great things here every day. And it is important to remember that there is no evidence of improper conduct with patients in this case.
This incident is a painful moment in our history. Undoubtedly, we should have done better. Moving forward, we will.