To the Journal editor:

The medical situation of the Duke LifePoint-Marquette General Hospital and the largely outpatient Marquette Medical Center is in critical condition.

For background, I received an MD degree from the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wisconsin, in June 1955 and after a one-year rotating internship, I moved to the new United Mineworkers Beckley Memorial Appalachian Hospital for experience and further training, receiving board certification in internal medicine before departure to my subsequent 39 years in Marquette of internal medicine practice ending on June 30, 2003. I have been in close contact with physicians and many medical workers since.

In my opinion the local medical picture has become a disaster. Consider the following:

1. Early after the purchase of our hospital, DLP-MGH changed (the hospital’s) status from non-profit to for profit. Why? There was never any public discussion of this as I recall.

2. Why did DLP-MGH have three of the lowest scores (twice in the last four years) of hospital “patient quality of care” performance among the 60 Michigan hospitals tested?

3. Why have so many DLP-MGH administrators retired or left after a short term of duty?

4. Why has the Marquette City Commission and the city administration consistently given the DLP-MGH full support to start a new $300,000,000 second hospital in the face of continually heavy national debate on where medical care is going? They are at fault for doing so.

5. Why does the DLP-MGH ignore the long standing success of the 50-plus year old Marquette Medical Center for outpatient and inpatient care?

6. Why has the DLP-MGH nurses union-hospital contract break gone on since April 2017 without a contract since? This is terrible, in my opinion.

7. I recently had a 2¢ day stay in DLP-MGH for a serious recurrent blood stream infection. I was discharged on antibiotics. The hospitalization showed all worker quality to be fair to good and some exceptionally good. All were working harder and longer than they should be because of inadequate staffing. Many were given more care than they were trained for.

8. I recommend that if possible we contact a good national medical program to buy DLP-MGH, clean house and restore the better medical program that is critically needed.

John W. English, MD

Marquette