Leave a good thing well enough alone

I had no idea that Prince William Hospital was up for sale again until last year. On October 10, 2007, Mr. Sam Bajaj from the Federal Trade Commission called me about Inova making a bid to buy out
Prince William Hospital because of an op-ed I wrote opposing the last attempted sale. I told Mr. Bajaj that I hadn’t heard or read anything about an impending deal or merger with Inova until his call.

I also mentioned to Mr. Bajaj that I would still oppose such a merger or sale if it wasn’t to late and I though any impending thoughts of a sale should have been made public for all to know and not done with a deceiving tone.

This doesn’t surprise me though as the CEO at Prince William Hospital has been trying to sell out the citizen’s hospital of Manassas ever since the last failed attempt. I agree with Louis G. Dominguez and a few others who have written in that we should not give away our hospital. But certain others feel differently for their own personal motives.

Perhaps it’s time to fire the current CEO and replace him with someone more loyal to our hospital and community. The $200 million sale price is more than a bargain, it’s a steal. Hopefully the FTC can stop this sale while its being appealed by a lawsuit and the hospital will remain the private not for profit entity that it is.

We have a first class hospital in Prince William Hospital and hopefully it will remain that way for several years to come. Nobody should have the authority to sell this hospital without the consent of the people of Manassas who helped put this all together several years ago. Going behind closed doors to make deals to undermine the citizens is not good business.

KEITH KESSLER

Dale City