Herald - Lantech - Dispatch 28 August '85 5

Battle of Burdette Sneaky Legal Doings Or Teapot Tempest?

COURT HOUSE - Changes in the corporate structure of Burdette Tomlin Memorial Hospital have fired up a new tussle in the continuing Battle of Burdette. The new exchange was triggered by the Friends of Burdette Inc., Consumer Advisory Council, a group of critics at odds with the hospital administration since the controversial dismissal of Dr. Suketu Nanavati. •WITHOUT public knowledge, Alan Gould, chairman of the board of governors of Burdette Tomlin Memorial Hospital, and William Waldron, hospital administrator," charge the Friends, "have been establishing what seems to be a strange network of at least five and perhaps six or seven corporations through which they and a handful of others will run and perhaps benefit from the operations of the hospital." The Friends, in attempting to get details, are being "stonewalled whenever they ask questions concerning the hospital," according to Frank Casey, Friends' chairman. THE FRIENDS want questions answered "pertaining to legal fees run up by Gould's law partner (Carl Valore) and the costs of last year's board election, which apparently paved the way for creation of other corporations." The Friends note of one of the new corporations. Cape Health Foundations.

Inc., that the by-laws on file in Trenton state the board of directors shall consist of not less than three nor more than five members. Initial board members named are: Alan I. Gould, Wildwood; William H. Waldron III, Court House; Brian F. Buonnani ( former assistant administrator), Court House, and James E. Smyth, Court House. AN AMENDMENT filed separately, says Casey, has the board electing Gould as chairman, Waldron as vice chairman and president, Buonnani as secretary and Smyth as treasurer. The by-laws prevent board members from being compensated as such, says Casey, but also state "nothing contained herein shall be constructed to preclude any board member from receiving compensation from the corporation for other services actually rendered or for expenses incurred for serving the corporation or in any other capacity." THE SAME officers and members, according to the Friends, are registered for Cape Health Enterprises Inc., the board of which is placed at not less than four nor more than 21 members. Corporations involved, say the Friends, are: 1 - Cape Health Systems, Inc.. also referred to as Cape May Health Sytems Inc. 2 - Cape May Health Systems Inc. on corporate papers filed with the Secretary of State's Office in Trenton. 3 - Cape May County Burdette Tomlin Memorial Hospital Foundation. Inc.

4 - Burdette Tomlin Memorial Hospital Inc. 5 - Cape Health Enterprises, Inc. 6 - Cape Health Services, Inc. 7 - Cape Health Foundation, Inc. CASEY QUERIES the purpose of the corporations and why the public wasn't informed about them. "Which one actually runs the hospital and what do Gould and Waldron stand to benefit from their establishment? Cawey wants to know. The Friends believe, says Casey, that the network of corporations is being created "to cicumvent public participation." ALL OF this, says Gould, is "another tempest in a teapot. There is the orderly progress toward restructuring vital to the positive future of the hospital and approved by the community. "There also seems to I»e." he went on. "a campaign of harassment against hospital leadership being waged by a small special interest group on the basic of paranoia, innuendo, and perhaps deliberate misinformation." The restructuring, Gould says, was approved by the membership of the hospital by more than two-thirds majority. THE DECISION, he continued, called for placing the hospital under a parent company. Cape Health System, Inc. This company, he explained, has the responsibility for approving and overseeing the actions of all other corporations within the system, including the hospital. At present, he said, the board of Cape Health System includes all the same members and officers as the board of the hospital, and meets once a month. The organizational process, Gould explained, is still in the beginning stages, and all other corporations within the system exist primarily on paper. "BEFORE THEY can begin to function, they had r to be established as legal entities and that required the listing of the names of responsible individuals," he said. "The appointments are temporary, with actual selection to be made as boards are established and the first meetings take place. The individuals now listed have taken only routine actions necessary to the newly forming corporations. "ACTUAL functioning of the new corporations will . begin on a gradual basis with the most needed activated first. Cape Health Enterprises will be the -profit-making arm of the system and the names of prospective board members and possible business ventures are currently being discussed. "Cape Health Services will be organized to oversee non-profit services offered separate from the hospital. Some time in the future, the Cape Health Foundation will be oragnized to take over the fundraising efforts of the system. For reasons of economy, this responsibility will be handled by the

parent company for the present." THE SERVICES of Morty. Springer and Mattern, P.C., a law firm nationally recognized as an authority on hospital law, have been engaged to guide the restructuring process. Gould said. Their actions, he said, are "a matter of public record." To explain apparent confusion in some corporation names, Gould pointed out that Cape May Health Systems. Inc., was the name first considered for the hospital's parent company. Later discussion, he said, led to a decision that Cape Health Systems, Inc., more accurately represent the area, "so that is now the legal name and Cape May

Health System, Inc., does not exist." CAPE MAY County Burdette Tomlin Memorial Hospital Foundation, Inc., no longer exists either, Gould declared. It was the name of the foundation before restructuring. As a parting shot, Gould

addressed a few questions to the critics in the Friends of Burdette: "When they raise money, do they tell people that it will not benefit patient services here in any way? Do they recognize that they are really not the 'friends of Burdette'?"

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