Crumby healthcare honcho eats cookie

[billybob123]

I don't know too many AHS employees who are sad to see him go.

[4X4]

I don't know too many Albertans that are happy with the state of health care. Forget Duckett, it's the PCs that need to get fired.

[First Lady]

Originally Posted by 4X4

I don't know too many Albertans that are happy with the state of health care. Forget Duckett, it's the PCs that need to get fired.

They just kicked out one of their own. Raj Sherman, an emergency room doctor who still works one day a week in hospital. He spoke out about the state of emergency care.

I don't agree with Duckett getting fired over the cookie thing. He was brought here to help "fix" our system. He had targets to reach by 2012 and recently set those back to 2015. Either he can't accomplish it or the government is not empowering him to accomplish it.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by First Lady

They just kicked out one of their own. Raj Sherman, an emergency room doctor who still works one day a week in hospital. He spoke out about the state of emergency care.

I don't agree with Duckett getting fired over the cookie thing. He was brought here to help "fix" our system. He had targets to reach by 2012 and recently set those back to 2015. Either he can't accomplish it or the government is not empowering him to accomplish it.

The problem is that this incident wasn't going to go away. If they don't fire him and head to an election with some problems in the healthcare system (as if they are going to magically disappear!) then all the other parties pile on. The PCs had no choice here really.

[First Lady]

Originally Posted by Slava

The problem is that this incident wasn't going to go away. If they don't fire him and head to an election with some problems in the healthcare system (as if they are going to magically disappear!) then all the other parties pile on. The PCs had no choice here really.

Oh, I agree something needed to be done. But it goes way beyond this one man.

I hope they can see that and don't use this as an excuse for further delays in making improvements.

[CaramonLS]

Originally Posted by FlameOn

Did a quick search, doesn't this type of behavior fall under both wilful misconduct and dereliction of duty?

Both of these are listed under just causes for termination in Alberta's labour laws

http://employment.alberta.ca/SFW/1474.html

How exactly would those fall under dereliction of duty / willful misconduct?

Honestly, if waiving a cookie and acting like a ###### was all he did, a labour lawyer would have a field day. That simply isn't good enough to fall under "just cause".

[FlameOn]

Originally Posted by CaramonLS

How exactly would those fall under dereliction of duty / willful misconduct?

Honestly, if waiving a cookie and acting like a ###### was all he did, a labour lawyer would have a field day. That simply isn't good enough to fall under "just cause".

If part of his job description was to organize and maintain good media relations. I haven't read they guy's contract yet but if the province were to try to get out of the severance... that's probably where they'd try to do it... It's a stretch?

Also at my company there is a directive that we uphold the companies reputation, if someone does something that can severely damage the company's reputation, they've been dismissed. I don't know if it was with or without severance... probably with in this case.

[Reggie Dunlop]

Duckett will get the full value of his severance package. It was apparently a mutual decision that had been brewing for a while, even before the Cookie Caper.

Interestingly, three AHS board members are likely to resign. One has already (Gord Bontje of Red Deer). Some of the reasoning is overt political interference.

This is a long ways from being over.

[Mtt48]

Health care is a joke in this province. I have a chronic condition and go to a special clinic regularly for checkups and what not. About 4 months ago they got rid of the receptionist position because they had to cut costs. This may sound insignificant, but the entire clinic has crumbled. For someone would could die pretty easily with out being constantly monitored and on the proper medication, not being able to contact doctors or nurses is a huge deal.

To schedule an appointment, or do anything at all with them I guess, I have to leave a message on their answering machine and they will call me back whenever they check the messages. In some cases this has been 3 days. To stay on top of lab results to monitor medication, I would call the office, talk to the receptionist and they would get back to me very quickly with the results. Now I wait days for the results when my medication may not be balanced properly or something. This is just such garbage and is probably shortening my life. This whole system needs to change, it is soooo bad.

god damnit i'm pissed at this cookie eating dickhole

[Reggie Dunlop]

Sorry to hear that Mtt48. I too have my own medical battles, though they probably pale in comparison. Keep strong.

Heck, even a sitting MLA with the governing party and a medical doctor to boot who won't pull political strings to get needed treatment for his ailing father has to be admired. Dr. Raj Sherman is a hero for speaking out and hopefully the public rallies around him.

[Sr. Mints]

Originally Posted by Mtt48

Health care is a joke in this province. I have a chronic condition and go to a special clinic regularly for checkups and what not. About 4 months ago they got rid of the receptionist position because they had to cut costs. This may sound insignificant, but the entire clinic has crumbled. For someone would could die pretty easily with out being constantly monitored and on the proper medication, not being able to contact doctors or nurses is a huge deal.

To schedule an appointment, or do anything at all with them I guess, I have to leave a message on their answering machine and they will call me back whenever they check the messages. In some cases this has been 3 days. To stay on top of lab results to monitor medication, I would call the office, talk to the receptionist and they would get back to me very quickly with the results. Now I wait days for the results when my medication may not be balanced properly or something. This is just such garbage and is probably shortening my life. This whole system needs to change, it is soooo bad.

Wow. I wonder if this is common or I wonder if we see the same specialist, because I'm in pretty much the exact same position.

Been waiting since last wednesday, and am still waiting for a call back to make an appointment with a specialist I've been going to for ~13 years.

[Hanni]

Originally Posted by FlameOn

If part of his job description was to organize and maintain good media relations. I haven't read they guy's contract yet but if the province were to try to get out of the severance... that's probably where they'd try to do it... It's a stretch?

Also at my company there is a directive that we uphold the companies reputation, if someone does something that can severely damage the company's reputation, they've been dismissed. I don't know if it was with or without severance... probably with in this case.

The sad part is we are probably going to end up paying out the rest of his contract but won't ever hear about it.

[Mean Mr. Mustard]

Originally Posted by Mtt48

god damnit i'm pissed at this cookie eating dickhole

Frankly with all due respect, it isn't Duckett who is the problem and he is just being used as the fall guy, the cuts won't be reversed now that he is fired, however because it is impossible to blame a nameless "board" to direct your anger at, people just pile on Duckett.

Personally I think that there are some things that need to change within our health care system, there needs to be more emphasis placed on reserving a situation before it reaches a critical point and tertiary care is required. Budget cuts needed to be made because health care was bankrupting the province. People could look the other way during the good economic times but now that the price of natural gas has dropped significantly and the revenues the government is bringing in are dropping - it was becoming painfully obvious that changes needed to be made.

[Northendzone]

the amount that he will get for severance (~650,000), while substantial to most of us, is pretty tiny relative to the AHS budget.........

i think it would be difficult, but i sometimes wonder where alberta would sit if you could rank the provincial health care systems in all provinces/territories......

good thing steady eddy got rid of alberta health care premiums because money can't help this situation at all......

[Mean Mr. Mustard]

Originally Posted by Northendzone

the amount that he will get for severance (~650,000), while substantial to most of us, is pretty tiny relative to the AHS budget.........

Maybe that is the problem. Not saying health care should be or can be cheap - but we are spending roughly half our budget on it and there is nothing but complaints. Perhaps there is something more effective?

[First Lady]

Originally Posted by Reggie Dunlop

Heck, even a sitting MLA with the governing party and a medical doctor to boot who won't pull political strings to get needed treatment for his ailing father has to be admired. Dr. Raj Sherman is a hero for speaking out and hopefully the public rallies around him.

Yesterday in the Leg Raj revealed more details on how long the problem has been ignored.

http://www.calgaryherald.com/health/...903/story.html

Previously he couldn't speak out (as a PC member), but now as an independent he can speak out about documents he had access to as an emergency room doctor.

BTW for political geeks. The leg has been sitting since 3 PM yesterday as the opposition (and Raj) push for changes to Bill 17.

http://www.calgaryherald.com/Opposit...517/story.html

IMO Stelmach could have avoided this whole thing by making Raj the Health Minister. Then the AHS wouldn't have had to have their "emergency meeting" which put Duckett under pressure by the media to respond when he emerged from that meeting.

[Reggie Dunlop]

Two more board members resign and perhaps another.

http://www.calgaryherald.com/story.html?id=3885305

[Nage Waza]

Originally Posted by red '00

I'm not blaming Duckett for the problems. I simply don't believe he's the man to fix the problems. The situation is getting pretty bad, and in my opinion needs to be dealt with immediately. Not after five years and some "studies". He seems to like to downplay the situation, and for his salary I think it's not too much to expect someone to get worked up a bit and come up with some concrete solutions to fix the problem sooner rather then later. Health care is not a game, and it's not something that you should be taking your time with. Do I know exactly how to fix the issues? No... But I'm also not getting paid 700k to figure it out.

You can also tell a lot about someone based on how they carry themselves in public. All Duckett has done is laugh at people's upset comments regarding the system (seriously, interview with global) and try to downplay things. Not to mention his "cookie" thing... Try acting professional and answering the tough questions for concerned Albertans whom YOU serve Mr. Duckett.

I don't dispute any of that. He certainly was not voted in and had a bad moment in front of the press. The press do not get any respect from me either. I really don't know much about the guy, but health care is very difficult and our current problems are not a result of this guy.

[Nage Waza]

Originally Posted by FlameOn

Wow... just wow... I have never seen anyone in a public position to act like such a crack pot. Doesn't this guy have any handlers?

I think this is pretty just cause for termination. The guy doesn't seem like he has the mental maturity of a 6 year old let along enough to run the AHS

Are you serious? What part of what he did is reason to fire someone? I think what he did was dumb but was he doing the job well? I have no idea either way.

[Sliver]

Duckett's wife's letter to the editor from December 1, 2010.

...Australian friends have commented that Stephen was “just being Australian” with his cookie comments—that is, “larrikin”, mischievous, not willing to be bullied by the aggressive questioning of reporters. I will leave it to him to explain the circumstances of his decision not to speak, although respect for the democratic process (not using his appointed position to criticize elected officials) was part of it. In retrospect, given his deep commitment to quality health care, was it too flippant? Probably. But the remaining AHS board will not find a CEO with more skill, integrity and commitment, though they waste another year trying to recruit his replacement.

To quote Joni Mitchell: “You don’t know what you’ve got, ‘til it’s gone”.