First Amendment Rights at a Publicly Owned Hospital

Reporters are being singled out by MCDH for Reporting on their Finances

At the March Finance Committee John Parigi was prepared to report his findings to the public. There weren’t enough committee members to make a quorum and, according to Bob Edwards, there was no official meeting. Bob Edwards left the room and clearly expected that the Press would also.

We continued recording the Finance Committee meeting where Parigi laid out the ineptitude of Bob Edwards. The finance committee meeting did not have a quorum, so Bob left the room and declared the meeting cancelled. Parigi gave his devastating report anyway and we stayed on and recorded the report ,which detailed the many inept and systemic management decisions that have led the hospital to the point where they think they need a parcel tax.

The lack of a quorum appeared contrived to shut Parigi up and keep his analysis of the hospitals finances off of the minutes, until he could remove Parigi from the premises. Mendocino TV recorded the only recording of an independent analysis of MCDH’s financial situation. This report showed inept administration and lack of staffing in the billing department responsible for millions in un-recovered billing.  You may remember the vast loss of staff in that department that were related to CFO Sturgeon and CEO Edward’s which are now tied up in  federal court in a lawsuit that potentially may cost millions!

This revelation, which damaged Bob Edwards reputation immensely, led the hospital to issue some policies and procedures to address such an issue, should it come up in the future. (see attached documents)

Video Policy
Media Relations Policy
MCDH Public Records Request Form

Mendocino TV press coverage of MCDH is a gift to our community and to our Local District Hospital. Mendocino TV gets no recompense for the thousands of hours we put in, to bring this news to our community. Each 2 hour board meeting requires 2 hours of preparation, however long it takes to record it, 2 to 4 hours of post production and then we spend countless hours to days discussing and reviewing the footage before we write a thoughtful opinion. Then we check with our sources to verify background information. Then we have to distribute it, which takes 1 to 2 hours. Don’t mistake this service to our community as if we are “against” our local hospital. We believe the existing management are more “against” our local community needs. The previous BOD settled on Edwards. He was their third choice! It breaks my heart that on the day the BOD renewed Edwards contract, he gave an inarticulate rant disparaging John Parigi and basically lying to the public and the BOD. Mendocino TV’s job, as the press, is to report what is being done to our local hospital.
What’s happening at the local level of politics is a microcosm of Washington DC, reflecting the same greed, secrecy and backroom deals. We have a grateful community but not a hospital grateful for an open and honest press.