WHY ARE SOME UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA BOARD OF VISITORS MEMBERS STILL SUPPORTING UVA HEALTH'S LEADERS?
How many more UVA Health patients have to die before the UVA Board of Visitors decides to act?
We have the same questions about the University of Virginia Board of Visitors that our doctors asked via TheTruthAboutUVAHealth.com:
We know some of what Williams & Connolly’s attorneys have heard from our colleagues so far.
We know that some members of UVA’s Board of Visitors have received updates from Williams & Connolly’s attorneys detailing the heartbreaking, unconscionable, and unacceptable actions against our colleagues by UVA Health’s leaders.
Is it true if two thirds of the Board of Visitors decide to act, they can remove a UVA Health leader and begin the process of restoring integrity to UVA Health and the University of Virginia?
Given that some, if not all, of the 19 members of the University of Virginia Board of Visitors are aware of evidence going back to 2020 that supports the serious allegations in the 9/5/24 No Confidence Letter…
What is the UVA Board of Visitors waiting for?
More UVA Health patients to die?
More UVA Health patients to go blind due to staffing shortages?
More high-risk patients to be denied healthcare at UVA Medical Center in order to protect UVA Health’s rankings?
More lawsuits?
More confidential settlements due to the actions of UVA Health’s leaders?
More potential Medicare fraud?
More of our colleagues and UVA School of Medicine trainees to be asked to falsify patient records?
More of our UVA School of Medicine trainees to be bullied and harassed?
More of our colleagues and UVA School of Medicine trainees to experience moral distress?
More of our colleagues to be reprimanded for filing Be Safes and ordered to stop reporting safety violations?
More of our colleagues to be retaliated against by the CEO of UVA Health and the Dean of the UVA School of Medicine for telling the truth and reporting concerns?
More of our colleagues to be denied promotion and tenure for raising serious safety concerns?
More of our colleagues to be denied promotion and tenure for voicing their opinions at meetings with the CEO of UVA Health and the Dean of the UVA School of Medicine?
More of our colleagues to be denied promotion and tenure for reporting attempted healthcare fraud to compliance?
More about how the CEO of UVA Health ordered our colleagues to stop speaking publicly about the truth of what our underserved communities were experiencing during the COVID-19 public health crisis?
More about how the CEO of UVA Health behaved during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic which included using our limited testing capacity so that he and his family could be tested and then take a private flight to a Caribbean vacation?
More of our highly respected and valuable colleagues — including doctors, faculty, nurses, and staff — to quit?
Please ask any University of Virginia Board of Visitors members you know, what is preventing them from acting?
Please ask any University of Virginia Board of Visitors members you know if they have a legal obligation to uphold their duties?
Please ask any University of Virginia Board of Visitors members you know if they have a fiduciary obligation to uphold their duties?
Please ask any University of Virginia Board of Visitors members you know if they have a moral obligation to act ethically on behalf of UVA Health’s patients, doctors, nurses, and staff as well as the UVA School of Medicine’s faculty and trainees?
Or is it true that the decision by the University of Virginia Board of Visitors to stand by the CEO of UVA Health is a result of what we’ve been told — that Craig Kent has raised so much money for UVA Health that some members of the BoV consider him untouchable?
Is it also true that the inaction of the University of Virginia Board of Visitors is because some of the members believed Craig Kent and Melina Kibbe when they said the allegations in the 9/5/24 No Confidence Letter were not true and dismissed them as coming from a statistically irrelevant group of disgruntled clinical faculty?
If the University of Virginia Board of Visitors trusts Craig Kent and Melina Kibbe more than hundreds of our fellow physicians, faculty, trainees, nurses, and staff, will the BoV support our request for open Congressional hearings under oath hosted by the United States House of Representatives Committee on Education and the Workforce where our colleagues will share everything with the world that they have told Williams & Connolly?
In this time of crisis, we ask each of the following University of Virginia Board of Visitor members, are you debating what to do as a partisan decision or a patient safety decision?
Robert D. Hardie
Carlos M. Brown
Robert M. Blue
Daniel M. Brody
U. Bertram Ellis Jr.
Marvin W. Gilliam Jr.
The Hon. Paul C. Harris
Stephen P. Long, MD
Paul B. Manning
John L. Nau III
David O. Okonkwo, MD
The Hon. L.F. Payne
Amanda L. Pillion
Rachel W. Sheridan
David F. Webb
Douglas D. Wetmore
Porter N. Wilkinson
Michael J. Kennedy
Lisa R. KopelnikFinally, did each of you accept your appointment to the UVA Board of Visitors for the social status it conveys or because you wanted to have the immense honor and obligation to protect and enforce the rules, regulations, and integrity of the University of Virginia and represent the people who give it life — your students, alumni, faculty, employees, healthcare professionals, patients, donors, and community members?
- Concerned UVA Health Physicians & UVA School of Medicine Faculty
THE STATUTE OF 1819, the act which established the University of Virginia, was passed on January 25, 1819 and included the following language:
The said visitors shall be charged with the erection, preservation and repair of the buildings, the care of the grounds and appurtenances, and of the interests of the University generally: they shall have power to appoint a Bursar, employ a Proctor, and all other necessary Agents, to appoint and remove Professors, two thirds of the whole number of visitors voting for the removal;
PERTINENT LEGAL PROVISIONS RELATING TO THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA:
SECTION 23.1-2209. POWERS AND DUTIES.
B. The board may (i) remove the president of the University or any professor with the assent of two-thirds of its members, (ii) prescribe the duties of each professor and the course and mode of instruction,
MANUAL OF THE BOARD OF VISITORS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA:
The Rector or Vice Rector may be removed by a vote of two-thirds of the whole number of Visitors at a regular meeting, or special meeting called for this purpose.
The President shall be elected by the Board of Visitors. Appointment, removal, requested resignation, or amendment of the contract or terms of employment of the President may be accomplished only by vote of a majority (or, by statute, two-thirds in the case of removal) of the whole number of Visitors at a regular meeting, or special meeting called for this purpose.
To appoint and remove professors, two-thirds of the whole number of Visitors voting for the removal;
What is going on at UVA Health?
We are Concerned Citizens of Charlottesville and Patients of UVA Health who are troubled by what we have heard from many UVA Health professionals over the past year.
These professionals are not only our doctors and nurses but also our friends, family and neighbors. We believe our community should value and protect its health care workers who have dedicated their lives to helping UVA patients.
A Parrhesiastes is someone who speaks the truth in a clear and honest way…
It's about the courage to speak one’s mind even when it's difficult or unpopular…to prioritize truth over social niceties or personal gain...
But speaking the truth can be dangerous. A Parrhesiastes understands this risk and is willing to face the consequences, from social disapproval to vindictive employers or even violence...
Because ultimately Parrhesiastes act out of a sense of duty.
They believe speaking the truth is necessary for the greater good and to protect the people and institution they love.