Re Examining the Case of State Senator Charles Walker

For more than a decade State Senator Charles Walker was among the most if not the most powerful politicians in the state of Georgia. His reign came to a humiliating end in June of 2004 when he was indicted on 142 separate counts of corruption related charges. His indictment read like an alphabet soup of terms straight out of your favorite law or cop show: wire fraud, conspiracy, tax evasion, extortion. If it was on your favorite lawyer show, he was probably charged with it. Of those 142 charges, he was convicted on 127 counts.

The scope and breadth of his crimes was staggering, shocking, and ultimately it is the back bone of the widespread corruption that is currently leading to the potential closing of Grady Hospital. Walker used a network of power and influence to either get into bed with powerful people or strong arm those that refused to play ball. For instance, Walker ran a newspaper and anyone that wouldn't play ball would be threatened with negative publicity from his newspaper. He used his ability to procure government funds as a string to get hospitals to hire temps at his temp company.

Here is where the case gets shocking. After being convicted on 127 counts he was sentenced to ten years in jail. Now, normally, when someone receives such a light sentences after being convicted of so many things, we would assume that he flipped on others. In this case, he didn't. In fact, besides Walker, his daughter, and the companies they ran, NO ONE, NO ONE, was charged or convicted of anything. Furthermore, the authorities would have us believe that the proper sentence, without ratting out anyone, for 127 separate convictions is ten years. There are people busted with drugs that are serving more time than that. It seems the corruption that Walker pulled off was nothing compared to the corruption involved in investigating and executing his case.

In fact, we don't need to speculate as to whether or not others were involved in the corruption. One only needed to be in the courtroom on the day that Joyce Harris, the chief prosecution witness, testified. According to a source that was there when she testified, she accused Walker of demanding a quid pro quo. Grady is a public hospital. Walker, who again was one of the most powerful politicians in Georgia, was able to influence just how much money they received. He demanded that the temp company he ran hire up to 50 people per day (if you read the link Grady normally hired a handful per day) in order to receive funds. Harris testified to a lot more than just Walker. She accused Grady CEO Ed Renford, and Tim Jefferson Chief Legal Counsel of Grady, of threatening her safety if she blew the whistle. She accused Robert Brown, President of the board of Trustees of Grady Hospital, of accepting kickbacks and sexual favors. She accused William Casarella, Chief Medical Officer at Grady, of looking the other way. Yet, despite these incendiary accusations and 127 separate convictions of Walker, the powers that be at Grady were never investigated.

In other words, first, the authorities would have us believe that this guy was able to pull off so much criminality that it lead to the conviction on 127 separate counts, and that he pulled all of this off on his own. Furthermore, the authorities would have us believe that a proper sentence for the conviction on 127 separate charges is ten years in prison.Furthermore, right around the time that Walker's trial was ending, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in the Dept. of Health and Human Services issued a report on Grady. Here is the conclusion of the report.

the conditions at your hospital pose an immediate and serious threat to the
health and safety of your patients

You think that is shocking. What is really shocking is what happened to all of the players that were not only involved in the corruption of Walker but the conditions that lead to the scathing conclusion of that report.

The only one to lose their job as a result of the Walker scandal was Joyce Harris the one person who tried to stop the corruption. Ed Renford retired with a pension that pays him six figures per year. Tim Jefferson continues in the exact same position. William Casarella was actually promoted within Emory University. Robert Brown did eventually lose his sweetheart position but that was due to a separte scandal.

The reason this is important is because Grady is on the verge of collapse and its collapse threatens the entire medical system in Atlanta and Georgia. As a friend and Atlanta resident recently told me, the people the are the most scared are the other hospitals because Grady treats the patients no one else wants. Now, the legislature is debating whether or not to feed Grady with millions of more dollars. Make no mistake, Grady is in this mess because it is obscenely corrupt, and the exact same people that caused the corruption continue to be in power now. If they are fed more money, that is the ultimate throwing good money after bad.

If people are serious about saving Grady the first thing they need to do is clean house. You cannot save Grady if the same people that put it in this mess are in charge of getting it out. I hope the good people of Georgia will wake up to the obscene levels of corruption that have put this essential hospital on the brink of collapse and that they demand that the resolution is once and for all no longer the same old same old.

(Updated)Much of the story about Grady Hospital is so confusing that anyone that winds up in the middle is likely to be confused. I don't believe that this particular one is an example of this, however, you should also know how State Senator Charles Walker fits into the entire puzzle so to speak. Thus, I have put together a summary of the entire fiasco that tries to put all of its moving parts together in one piece. Please read it for guidance. Also, please check out the recommendations that I and my colleagues have put together for fixing Grady Hospital.

Also, please follow this link so that you can hear me and a colleague discuss the Walker case along with several other matters related to Grady and Emory.

King Drew and Grady: Comparison and Contrast

Last week, Grady Hospital entered a dubious and notorious category when the JCAHO threatened to revoke its national accreditation. Only one time previously had the JCAHO gone to such a dramatic step: King Drew Hospital in California. The conditions at King Drew were something out of a bad nightmare.

It might have gone down as the death of a "quasi-transient" woman with a history of abusing drugs. That's how the May 9 death of Edith Isabel Rodriguez was initially reported to the Los Angeles County coroner's office.

But five weeks later, her demise has become a cause celebre, a symbol of bureaucratic indifference. It is fraught with significance not just for one struggling inner-city hospital but for political and health leaders in the Los Angeles area and perhaps beyond. The county Sheriff's Department, health officials and the Board of Supervisors all are feverishly trying to determine who was to blame and how to prevent a recurrence.

Despite a long history of problems at Martin Luther King Jr.-Harbor Hospital, two things set the Rodriguez case apart: the existence of a security videotape showing the woman writhing for 45 minutes on the floor of the emergency room lobby and the public release this week of two 911 calls in which witnesses unsuccessfully pleaded with sheriff's dispatchers for help.

While the case of Edith Rodriguez became the most visible and poignant, the L.A. Times did a full investigation including undercover work to expose a great deal of the atrocious patient care at King Drew. This five part series turned the problems at King Drew from abstract and vague to real and personal.

The investigation reveals that King/Drew is much more dangerous than the public has been told.Among the findings:

• Errors and neglect by King/Drew's staff have repeatedly injured or killed patients over more than a decade, a pattern that remains largely unscrutinized and unchecked. Some lapses were never reported to authorities — or even to the victims or their families. And some people learned of the severity of the failings only by suing or, in several instances, from Times reporters who sought them out to learn about their care.

• Although King/Drew opened in 1972 with the promise that it would be "the very best hospital in America," it is now, by various measures, one of the very worst. It pays out more per patient for medical malpractice than any of the state's 17 other public hospitals or the six University of California medical centers.

• Entire departments are riddled with incompetence, internal strife and, in some cases, criminality. Employees have pilfered and sometimes sold the hospital's drugs; chronic absenteeism is rampant; assaults between hospital workers are not uncommon. Despite King/Drew's repeated promises to regulators, the problems have gone unfixed for years.

• The hospital's failings do not stem from a lack of money, as its supporters long have contended. King/Drew spends more per patient than any of the three other general hospitals run by Los Angeles County. Millions of dollars go to unusual workers' compensation claims and abnormally high salaries for ranking doctors.

• The hospital's governing body, the county Board of Supervisors, has been told repeatedly — often in writing — of needless deaths and injuries at King/Drew. Recently the supervisors have made some aggressive moves aimed at fixing the hospital. But for years, the board shied away from decisive action in the face of community anger and accusations of racism.

Because of the reporting of the L.A. Times, the JCAHO was left with no choice but this extreme action.While we still don't know the exact specifics that lead to the same move vis a vis Grady Hospital, you can be sure that whatever the problems are they are just as serious. (We don't know since Grady hasn't made the findings public) Unfortunately, unlike in L.A., the major media in Atlanta has been asleep at the wheel in reporting any malfeasance at Grady Hospital.

If anyone wanted to read about any specific stories that were similarly nighmarish at Grady, they only needed to read my blog.

One night that is what happened. One time he was left in charge of the entire step down unitfrom 4 PM to 2AM. The first emergency came from one patient who was recovering from lung surgery. The patient's lung collapsed and Kevin was called in to save his life. The patient was suffocating and time was of the essence. Kevin was panicked and needed to move quick. He needed to find a chest tube, but because of his own inexperience, he didn't know where they kept the chest tubes. In a rush, he did the only thing he could think of at the time. He grabbed the dirty chest tube that had already been used on the patient and injected into their lungs.

Next, Kevin was asked to read an x ray of the patient's lungs to determine if they were stable. This is again not something a medical student is supposed to do on their own and without supervision but since their was no supervision there wasn't much choice. Kevin gave it his best estimation and determined the patient was fine however as it turns out that was just a lucky guess. This patient survived but it had nothing to do with the type of care that was provided them at Grady.
I have had many apologists try and claim these stories are inaccurate...

Ok, this story is ridiculous. I graduated from Emory medical school in 2007, and no scenario such as the one Kevin described ever happened to anyone I know. We were never left alone in charge of entire floors; that is completely preposterous. And even if I had been, I would have known enough even as a third-year med student to ASK SOMEBODY WHERE THE CHEST TUBES ARE rather than abandon sterile technique and try to insert a dirty one. My guess is that they dismissed him for some real grievance, and he is claiming to be a whistleblower to cover himself.

Unfortunately for the apologists, the facts speak for themselves.(res ipsa loquitur) Grady isn't being threatened with revocation of their license because a few machines are broken, or some doctors are occasionally careless, or any other mild reason. The action by the JCAHO is extreme because what is going on at Grady is extreme. If this story is inaccurate, how does one explain what is going on at Grady. Since the JCAHO did what they did, it ultimately doesn't matter whether or not this particular story is true. I can assure you that there have been plenty of nightmarish incidents. I know this because the action of the JCAHO speaks for itself.

This particular story is not the issue. The issue is the reporting, or should I say non reporting, of the AJC and other media outlets in the area. For instance, in 2004 the Dept. of Health and Human Services finished an investigation that concluded,

the conditions at Grady Hospital provide a serious and immediate threat to the health and safety of the patients

This report received little if any attention from the AJC when it came out even though its very conclusions indicated that the conditions at Grady were just as dangerous as those discovered by the L.A. Times at King Drew. Had the AJC made an issue out of that particular report, it is possible that many of the problems that are currently facing Grady could have been resolved then. Instead, they treated this damning report as nothing more than a by line. No one ever fully investigated. The report damned four departments specifically: oncology, cardiology, General Surgery, and obgyn. I know this because I got a copy of the report. Only the powers that be at the AJC know why they never got a copy of it.

King Drew and Grady are connected in other ways. Several high ranking members of King Drew found their way onto the staff of Grady Hospital. For instance, Ed Renford held a high ranking position at King Drew before becoming CEO at Grady. Leon Haley was another former high up at King Drew that wound up at Grady Hospital. He was Chief of Emergency Services. This is frankly the equivalent of hiring the former higher ups at Enron to be CEO, CFO, etc at your company. Yet, this too was not something that the AJC ever paid much attention to.

Even now, the AJC isn't doing very much with the Grady story. No one at the AJC is explaining exactly what it means that the JCAHO is threatening to revoke Grady's accreditation. The layman doesn't know the difference between the JCAHO and the NCAA. If they simply read that the JCAHO is threatening to revoke Grady's accreditation, they will have absolutely no context to the story. Unless the media explains to the readers and viewers what exactly this means they aren't going to know or care.

The biggest difference between the two cases is their respective positions within each of their health care communities. King Drew was a fairly large hospital and it catered to the indigent like Grady. The difference is that King Drew was not the only game in town so to speak when it came to serving the poor folks. Thus, closing it down disrupted the health care system in the L.A. area but not to the point that it couldn't handle it. The same is not true of Grady. Grady is massive among the five biggest hospitals in the country. It serves the overwhelming number of poor folks in Dekalb and Fulton County and frankly serves the poor in other counties as well. Closing it down will unleash these folks on the rest of the medical system in the area, and no one can predict the outcome. The consequences of closing Grady are scary and totally unpredictable. Of course, the Atlanta media has done absolutely no reporting on this part of the story.

Because the L.A. Times took its first amendment responsibility seriously the nightmarish conditions at King Drew were exposed and the hospital was dealt with. Whether through incompetence or worse, the AJC has never taken their first amendment seriously vis a vis Grady Hospital. As a result, we have come to the place we have despite repeated warnings.

EPILOGUE:

For a full summary of the entire fiasco at Grady, Emory and beyond please read this piece.
Also, please take a look at the recommendations that I, and frankly mostly my colleagues, have put together for saving Grady Hospital.

Who is the Real Sociopath (Updated)

Introduction: For anyone who hasn't been following my work, let me give you a quick recap. A few weeks back I passed along a story about purported corruption at Grady Hospital with the potential of Emory University staff, who account for most of Grady's staff, being in the middle of it. After that story was published, I was contacted Kevin Kuritzky. He maintains that he blew the whistle on much of the corruption at Grady Hospital and beyond. He was expelled from Emory Medical School with forty one days left in his final year. He claims it was in retaliation to his whistleblowing while Emory claims it was due to tardiness and other offenses. He has a civil suit against Emory University currently in the appeals court. I should point out that Kevin has been a source for several stories and I have also done a radio show together with Kevin Kuritzky.While I in no way hide whatever biases I have, I believe that in the case of what follows the latin phrase, Res Ipso Loquitor (the facts speak for themselves), applies. Now...

A couple of weeks ago I received this UNSOLICITED email.

Mike, Just wanted to let you know that you shouldn't get taken in by Kevin Kuritzky. The guy is a pathological liar and I have personally been taken in by his stories only to realize that he was flat out lying. I also know numerous other people who have experienced the same. It is quite sad because he is a very charming, intelligent person. He just uses these skills to manipulate people. Don't get taken in by him.
Mike--

Michael Ward MD,

MBA

Resident

Physician

Department of Emergency Medicine

University of Cincinnati

So, who is Michael Ward MD etc, etc...and what is he talking about? According to the chic professional networking site, Linked In, Michael Ward MD etc., etc... is in fact a member of the staff at the University of Cincinnati. It appears that his path crossed with that Kevin Kuritzky a few years back at medical school at Emory University. If what Dr. Ward says is true, it makes the basis of a lot of my reporting suspect to say the least. In fact, my first comprehensive piece on this subject was based largely on the testimony of Kevin Kuritzky. I say this so that my natural biases are clearly laid out as I continue with my analysis.



The reason that I reveal this email now (about three weeks after I got it originally) is because through the grapevine I am told the P.R. arm of Emory University has been making similar claims to Mike King of the AJC. (in that case I believe the word sociopath was used in describing Kuritzky) It is also consistent with the comments of the mysterious pseudonym John in response to this story.

I was in Kevin’s class at Emory (well at one point as it took him several years
to complete one academic year), and the allegations by Emory concerning his
behavior, ethics and morals are accurate. He should not be taking care of
patients plain and simple.

Ironically enough, the term sociopath is one which most of my friends have told me I have a disturbing and obscene fascination with. (Given that two of my favorite shows, 24 and The Sopranos, each delved into the topic at roughly the same time, "I had no choice" or I just couldn't help myself, potato... but to get interested in it) Anyone who has read my work knows that I have had personal contact with my fair share of sociopaths and and I see several of the world leaders and our enemies as sociopaths as well. While this by no means makes me an expert, I will use my experience with the phenomenon to try and separate fact from perception in this situation.



One thing is clear. There is no doubt that one of these two side is certainly sociopathic, which in simplest terms is an individual devoid of empathy (in other words they are so selfish that nothing but their own self interest becomes relevant to them). Either Kevin Kuritzky has decided to lie pathological for his own self interest or his opponents want to paint him as such for theirs. Since, in this story, there is no middle ground we are absolutely dealing with sociopathology on one person's part.



If Kevin Kuritzky is himself a sociopath, then his compulsive lying would be a standard trait. There could be several reasons of self interest for his lying. He may have decided to get revenge at Emory for real or perceived wrongs. He may have thought that given the incendiary nature of his lies that they would bring him fame, or money, or both. There are in fact any number of self interest reasons for Kuritzky lying in this case.



On the other hand, if Emory University and their cohorts are sociopathic, they would look to smear Kevin because they know he is a threat. If in fact what he says is true, then their own sociopathic nature would have every reason to eliminate him. Remember, if Kevin is telling the truth, he is a hero. He is then trying to expose some of the worst corruption, leading to fraud, horrible patient care, and outrageous waste of tax payer money. Emory University along with several other people and groups are the targets of his accusations. If he is telling the truth, then a sociopath would have every motivation to use every single means available to eliminate, marginalize and demean him.



Obviously, knowing the truth beyond all doubt is impossible, however in this case, it is my opinion that the truth beyond all reasonable doubt is pretty easy to decipher.



First, we know that Grady Hospital is now in such financial turmoil that it will likely need hundreds of millions to survive. We know that State Senator Charles Walker used Grady Hospital and other entities to commit an obscen amount of corruption. (He was charged with 137 felonies, convicted of 127, flipped on no one, and yet only got ten years in jail. Oh, and no one else, besides his daughter and the companies they ran were even charged)



We know that in the mid and late 1990's Grady Hospital was the subject of an investigation and ultimately prosecution and settlement for Medicare fraud.We know that in the mid and late 1990's Grady Hospital was the subject of an investigation and ultimately prosecution and settlement for Medicare fraud. We know that in the beginning of this millenia Grady was subject to an NIH investigation. While the investigation ultimately didn't lead to any arrests, fines or convictions, we do know that four Emory professors were ultimately paid off for their silence. We also know that 2004-2005 HHS conducted its own investigation. Here is the conclusion of that investigation.

there is an exteme and immediate threat to the health and safety of the patients

There is even evidence that in the case of one paid off professor, Dr. Jim Murtaugh, Emory and Grady paid him off without receiving permission from the board of trustees. Finally, even in the current civil case between Emory University and Kevin Kuritzy there is some questionable behavior on the part of Emory University. Court records show that Emory University couldn't produce hundreds if not thousands of documents in the case. In many instances, Emory even admitted to destroying certain documents.



The problem for Emory University, in my mind, is these are all clear characteristics of sociopathic behavior. Sociopaths remove every threat in the way of their goal. Between paying people off, expelling others, destroying documents, I believe they have exhibited that behavior in their goal of running a corrupt hospital. Given all of this evidence it makes Kuritzky's claims well within the pattern of evidence that anyone can discover by simply mastering the art of google.com. The only evidence that Kuritzky is a sociopath come in the accusations of Emory and their cohorts.



Even in the case of the email of Michael Ward, MD, etc, etc, there are no specific accusations. In our exchange by email upon receiving it, I invited Ward to give me specifics and I even emailed him my cell phone number. He never responded with any examples. In the case of the mysterious John it is also vague and unspecific allegations. Emory many times points to Kuritzky being expelled as evidence. Keep in mind it was Emory that expelled him. If they are the sociopaths, his expulsion would fit the behavior pattern of a sociopath to a tee.



In order for Kuritzky to be a sociopath, the pattern of behavior that Grady and Emory exhibited (keep in mind while the two entities are separate Grady is almost entirely staffed by Emory personnel and in many cases Grady higher ups move onto positions with Emory a la William Casarella) was either an anomaly or either a condition that was fixed in a few short years between the events I described and the time period of Kuritzky's accusations. Even that would be hard to believe because the HHS report coincided with the time period of Kuritzky's investigations. If you were to believe that, you would then have a very hard time explaining the current financial crisis at Grady Hospital.



Thus, in conclusion, those that I am accusing can say I have a bias, however I believe I have laid out a solid case for who is the sociopath here. While I must admit that I enjoy an obscene and disturbing amount of fun in delving into the condition of sociopathology, this question is central to what is going on. If Kuritky is the sociopath, then we need not worry about infusing Grady with more money because their administration is fit to receive it. If, on the other hand, it is Emory, Grady and beyond, that are the real sociopaths, then it is time for full fair and open hearings before even one cent is dolled out to what would be the very people that caused the mess.



If my supposition is right, then the likes of Kent Alexander, William Casarella, Ed Renford, Robert Brown, Vernon Jones, (and maybe even State Senator Charles Walker if that can be arranged) as well as those that would be the heroes in this mess: Kevin Kuritzky, Ron Marshall, Dale Cardwell, Joyce Harris and even all those that were paid off, need to be put under oath, on television, to answer truthfully their involvement in this crisis.Finally, I invite the powers that be at Emory, Mike King, Dr. Ward, and even the mysterious John to respond at their leisure if they feel I have been inaccurate.



UPDATE:If you are picking up the story of the Grady Hospital crisis anywhere in the middle, you are likely to get quite confused. This maybe happening if this particular story is your first exposure to the crisis. Thus, I have put together a summary of the entire fiasco that tries to put all of its moving parts together in one piece. Please read it for guidance. Also, please check out the recommendations that I and my colleagues have put together for fixing Grady Hospital.

Grady and Emory: Culture of Corruption

As I have delved deeper and deeper into the evolving narrative that links Emory University, Grady Hospital and potential malfeasance, I have realized that is very important to separate facts and evidence from speculation, assertion, and conclusions. For now, I want to report only facts, in other words, things I can verify.Thus, it is a fact that Grady Hospital is at the center of a culture of corruption. I know this to be a fact because one only needs to do a google search to see that there is documented corruption at Grady Hospital

...he wanted Grady to hire as many as 50 a day, though the public hospital - operated under the Fulton-DeKalb Hospital Authority - had previously hired asfew as three a day. Harris adds that her boss, then-Grady CEO Edward Renford,demanded that she "schmooze" Walker more and cautioned her not to make
him angry.

But Harris says she made the Augusta lawmaker angrier by not hiring more temps. She claimed in a sexual harassment and discrimination lawsuit that she was fired in 1998 partly because of her complaints about payments to Walker. Grady denied her allegations. Her lawsuit was dismissed in 2002.But she wasn't the only one accusing Walker of shady dealings.

Before Democrats lost power, when lobbyists came to his Capitol office seeking favors, he reportedly would pat the head of a toy dog on his desk and ask, "What's in it for my little friend?"According to a federal indictment, Walker's temp company earned $2.5 million from Grady between 1996 and 2000. His corruption trial begins May 23 in Augusta. Harris hopes to testify against him. Her 1999 TV interview about the senator helped spur inquiries into his dealings.

Now, let's look at more facts. Joyce Harris, the whistleblower, is no longer working at Grady and in fact doesn't even work in Georgia. Ed Renford (referenced in the article as Grady CEO)recently retired with a rather nice retirement package.Furthermore, let's look at two more high level people at Grady who weren't mentioned in the article. First, there is lead counsel Tim Jefferson who not only continues to be employed by Emory but as chief legal counsel. Then, there is Chief Trustee of Grady Robert Brown. He is no longer employed by Grady but if you click this link you will see why.

Again, I don't want to deal with anything but facts. The facts are that there were four people people that there were four people in a position of power when this scandal broke. The whistleblower lost her job and everyone else kept theirs. Again, I only deal in facts...as for assertions, speculation, and conclusions, those I will leave to the audience.

Now, let's look at another completely unrelated bit of corruption at Grady Hospital.

By contract with the Fulton-DeKalb Hospital Authority, the Emory Medical Care Foundation provides physicians to treat patients at Grady Hospital. Most of these services are billed to the Georgia Medicaid program. Since July 1997, the State Health Care Fraud Control Unit, composed of prosecutors from the Georgia Attorney General's office, Georgia Bureau of Investigation agents, and auditors from the State Department of Audits, has been investigating Emory's Medicaid billing. The State concluded that there were two specific areas in which Medicaid billing by EMCF was not in compliance with the policies and procedures of the Georgia Medicaid program. First, the State contended that from 1993 through mid-1997, EMCF billed for outpatient obstetrical services at higher service levels than were warranted by the documentation, a practice known as "upcoding." Second, the State's review also indicated that during the same period Medicaid billings submitted for services provided by residents and interns under the supervision of teaching physicians were inadequately documented and did not comply with Medicaid rules concerning "teaching physician presence."

Although the investigation revealed that inappropriate billing and documentation may have occurred, the State found that all of the patients whose records were examined had, in fact, received treatment. The quality of services provided by Emory physicians was not an issuein the investigation.Attorney General Baker stated that "Emory cooperated fully with the investigation and the investigation revealed no evidence of criminal wrongdoing." He further commended Emory for its role in consistently providing high quality health care to the indigent citizens of Fulton and DeKalb counties.Under the terms of the agreement, the Emory Medical Care Foundation expressly denies any wrongdoing, but has agreed to pay the Georgia Department of Medical Assistance a lump sum of $4,502,693 to settle all possible claims.

The Foundation also agreed to several compliance provisions, including continued implementation of a compliance office and program that were initiated in 1997. The State considered this compliance program, in addition to Emory's cooperation with the investigation, to be strongly mitigating factors in the settlement of the case.

Of course, if you still aren't convinced maybe you should .re read this, or this.

(Update)Much of the story surrounding Grady has many tentacles and thus one could get lost in the middle of it. I have found that to be the case for many readers with certain pieces. I don't believe this is one of them. I believe this piece speaks for itself, and it should be easy to follow no matter how big your exposure to the entire case. That said, I also think that everyone should understand how this culture of corruption fits into the overall picture. Thus, I have put together a summary of the entire fiasco that tries to put all of its moving parts together in one piece. Please read it for guidance. Also, please check out the recommendations that I and my colleagues have put together for fixing Grady Hospital.