Doctors should back Erlanger innovations

Last week’s front-page story, “Game of Hearts” by reporter Steve Johnson, provided insightful information. The idea of bypass surgery being performed without opening the chest cavity is as revolutionary as when Erlanger first introduced open-heart surgery to our community 50 years ago. Critically ill patients who might not have been able to undergo CABG surgery can now be saved by this new surgical procedure.

That said, and although I have great respect for the business decisions made in the past by Memorial Hospital, I was discouraged by the position taken by Memorial’s newest owners. Rather than being supportive of this procedure — which will save lives and money — Memorial’s leadership defensively remarked that their surgeons and staff were local, entitled to local support. I was chagrined to hear this; every year millions of their dollars leave our community for non-local purposes.

Rather than touting their past successes, Memorial needs to send its physicians back to Erlanger, where most of them were trained, to learn this new procedure for the good of their patients.

As a former Erlanger hospital board member, I support any innovation that will provide better quality health care in our community. Russell T. King