Dear Editor
My name is William “Bill” Bohnert and I was elected to the PCMH board of Trustees in 2022. This letter is in part why I voted no on the Mercy merger. Since myself along with Dr. Hutchinson have been on the board, we are continually asked to sign confidentiality agreements involving the hospital. The latest one was involving the lawsuit involving Pat Carron versus Ors. Schabbing and Green. Since then, the board of Trustees asked their attorney for a legal opinion on what information should be available to the public and what can be kept confidential. There was over $3,000 of taxpayer money spent to get this legal opinion. Basically, the legal opinion said that much of the so- called confidential information should be a matter of open records to the public.
Recently we learned of the closing of the Fresenius dialysis center in Perryville. The news release said that it was due to economic problems. Chris Wibbenmeyer echoed this to the employees, to the board of Trustees and the Perry County commissioners. I do know that during the negotiations with Mercy that Chris Wibbenmeyer said that Mercy was not interested in continuing the dialysis center and at that point I knew that the dialysis center was probably gone. In my recollection, there was no attempt by management or the board of Trustees to keep the dialysis center going.
Since the closing, Dr. Hutchinson and myself received information that the reason for closing might have been different than what we were told. To help us determine what the truth was, we asked Chris Wibbenmeyer for a copy of the Joint Venture termination agreement along with other financial statements concerning the Fresenius dialysis center. Mr. Wibbenmeyer politely told us to get a court order if we want to see anything. What am I to believe after being told to get a court order? What is so top secret about this agreement? Why can’t duly elected board of Trustees members see these without getting a court order?
