Daniel Shoer Roth The Miami Herald

March 11, 2010

Daniel Shoer Roth
The Miami Herald
One Herald Plaza
Miami, FL 33132-1693

RE: “Jackson’s Mission Must Not Be Forgotten” – Some comments on your Miami Herald song of lamentation on why “we” must not let Jackson Memorial Hospital fail.

Mr. Roth,

Would it not be ironic if the recorded phone call from Florida Power and Light were to come at noon on April 15th?

“As a courtesy to any patients still on the operating table or getting PETed, MRIed, or CAT scanned or using the ATM machine or in the garage waiting for the gate to come up please inform them that as of 3:00 PM the FPL electrical feed to Jackson Memorial will be cut. Your generators should enable you to closes out the day’s more pressing medical procedures. Call us when you can pay the past due amount and make a 2 month security deposit with a bank check and we will be please to serve you.”

I hold no brief for FPL. I am not employed by them. I don’t own any of their securities.

How is the “unforgettable Jackson mission”, a mission predicated on robbing Peter to pay Paul, a mission whose main financial tool consists of cutting a foot off the top of a blanket to sew on to the bottom to keep a patient’s feet warm, of Jackson Memorial to be reconciled with FPL’s mission of meeting payroll and providing power to the rest of Miami/Dade County?

You use the Miami/Dade takeover of an unfinished airport building as an example of the county’s ability “to absorb millions in cost overruns”. Fairness demands that the baseball stadium, the basketball arena, the torn down basketball arena, and the various Arts Centers be tossed into the pot of public scrutiny. I like baseball and basketball. I like Mozart and Willie Nelson. Why should the citizens of Miami/Dade be forced support my extracurricular pursuits?

Then the second call came in.

“We will not release the paychecks because your check was returned NSF.” That was from a mid-level management weenie at the check processing entity. He reminded his counterpart in payroll that while you can only take 32 ounces out of a quart bottle you must first put 32 ounces into the bottle.



Let’s start with your employees who are members of any union. They tell me over and over and over how much they understand the “mission” of Jackson Memorial. I am sure they won’t mind working for free.

Listen carefully.

I’ll write slowly.

You say “some divisions of at Jackson could be privatized, as long as they remain not-for-profit”.

Private not-for-profit enterprises exist and perform their tasks because somebody at some point made a profit. If those profits were obscene the not-for-profit entities can do marvelous things seeing as to how they are not responsible for the quotidian tasks of a for profit entity.

How many libraries did Andrew Carnegie build after he sold U.S. Steel? How many hospitals did skin flint John D. Rockefeller’s billions build?

Your aversion to “for profit” entities is understandable seeing as how you worked for Knight-Ridder and now work for McClatchey.

I read this morning that a grand jury has been convened to look into Jackson Memorial. With the experience gained by poring over the books of a not-for-profit hospital they’ll be able to take on the Granddaddy of them all. The United States Post Office.

As we approach the drop dead date may I suggest that bankruptcy may be the only solution left to protect the “mission” of Jackson Memorial? General Motors and Chrysler are still fulfilling their “mission”, aren’t they?

Somebody with a black robe and a gavel will sort it all out.




Kevin Smith