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Raymond Lawrence's article, Pain Pays, was recently published in CounterPunch. Dr. Lawrence expresses concern about some hospital executives receiving excessive salaries, especially those providing leadership in hospitals founded by religious bodies for charitable purposes. He sites one medical center where its top eight executives divided up $20 million for their annual salary. Quite a feast.
As such Lawrence questions:
How can a volunteer, giving time to assist the sick, work side by side with a person raking in several million dollars a year in salary? How can a hospital staff person trying to survive on an annual salary of $50,000 work for and respect an administrator who takes home during the same time several million? How can an institution maintain it tax-exempt status while making its executives filthy rich? How can hospitals pay excessive salaries and complain about hemorrhaging money caring for patients who are unable to pay? Why should benefactors consider naming in their wills an institution whose budget includes the gaudy enrichment of its senior executive officers?
We can hope that Lawrence is wrong in his observation but he might just be the truth teller when he writes:
The generous humanitarian spirit that inspired the creation of most American hospitals originally, and has drawn so many compassionate people into health care professions, and attracted the generosity of persons wishing to leave behind a generous legacy, is disappearing before our eyes.
The full article published in CounterPunch on May 26, 2008 can be read by clicking here.
Perry MIller, Editor
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Raymond Lawrence is the author of Sexual Liberation: The Scandal of Christendom. Dr. Lawrence has contributed articles to many nationally knows newspapers and publications. Click here to email the auhor.
Posted by Perry Miller, Editor at May 31, 2008 1:23 PM
