Letters to the Editor - The Lakeville Journal - 8-31-23

My recent experience in the Nuvance system

This is about a recent experience in the Nuvance system.  It is also an opportunity to alert readers that there are now eleven tickborne diseases to worry about — bacterial, parasitic and viral.

Based on my hospitalization for the tickborne parasite Babesia microtia at Sharon Hospital, I have drawn several conclusions:

1. Nuvance (Sharon Hospital) Medical Practice, my primary care physician practice, desperately needs a third doctor. When I made an appointment mid-June for an ugly rash, I was prescribed the standard antibiotics.  In mid-July when I had serious fatigue, headache and fever, I had to be referred to the Emergency Department because, I was told, every doctor and nurse in the practice system was fully booked that week.

2.Nuvance (Sharon) Emergency Department also needs more doctors.   I say this because on the first of my two visits to the ED, my intake was done by a Family Nurse Practitioner, and if an FNP does not yet have at least 2000 hours over 3 years of supervision, then their diagnosing and treating must be reviewed by a doctor.  The only doctor available apparently had his own caseload, so I got short shrift and was discharged back to my primary care physician with an indication that a treatment plan might follow upon the results of a test. I was led to believe that results would be known within 2-3 days but on Day 4 there were still none and I had to be re-admitted with worsening symptoms in the hope of a treatment plan this time around.  Unfortunately, treatment now required hospitalization.

3.  Nuvance needs to prioritize spending on medical staff over marketing and public relations consultants:  Within the first 24 hours of hospital discharge, I received a “Nuvance” phone call, not to ask me how I was doing, but to establish how well the Hospital had done, through questions such as “Had I been satisfied with the level of care provided?”, over-looking the fact that I wouldn’t have needed to be there in the first place if their system as a whole had been properly staffed with medical people!  I asked about the medical qualifications of the person calling (“none”), and if my answers might be shared with the relevant hospital staff (“not directly”).  Subsequently, in talking to the Hospital’s Quality Control Department, I learned that they would not be receiving my feedback, which was obtained from a marketing (“consulting”) agency contracted by the hospital.  This leaves one to wonder what, if any, patient feedback systems Nuvance might have in place?

Might I suggest that Nuvance prioritize hiring more medical staff over outside consultants with neither medical or nursing background?  If image is what they are concerned about, then there’s no better way to build up an image as a competent and reliable medical establishment than by building a strong medical team, one that communicates seamlessly between its Doctors’ Practices and its Hospital Departments.  Is it really too much to ask that this be their priority?

Janet Graaff

Salisbury

Bravo for interest in journalism

I enjoyed reading your article about your summer interns.  It is so good to learn about young people interested in print journalism.

Newspapers are so important.  I grew up reading the Des Moines (Iowa) Register and Tribune and have always tried to read a daily newspaper wherever I lived.

There is a lot going on around here besides art shows.  Many years ago I worked in a booth along Route 7 for the benefit of the Boy Scouts.  A visitor snarled “What do you people do around here?”  “Well, a train comes through on Thursdays,” I said sweetly.  No comment from her.

Carolyn McDonough

North Canaan

The Constitution Controls

As debate intensifies about whether the Constitution prohibits Donald Trump from being President again, we should remember some Constitutional basics. Simply stated:

1. Section 3 of Amendment XIV prohibits Trump from holding office if he “...shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against...” the Constitution of the United States “...or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.” The prohibition is self-executing and automatic (“No person shall...”), just like other requirements for the Presidency concerning place of birth, age, and residency. No action by Congress or any court is necessary to determine place of birth, age, or residency or to activate the disqualification. Section 3 further states that “Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.”

2. In 2021, in the second impeachment of Trump, the House of Representatives voted 232 to 197 to indict Trump for “Incitement of Insurrection,” and the Senate voted “Guilty” by a vote of 57 to 43. While the Senate vote fell short of the two-thirds necessary to convict in a Senate impeachment trial, Congress has certainly determined by a majority vote of both the House of Representatives and the Senate that Trump engaged in insurrection.

3. Congress has not acted to remove the disability with respect to Trump.

4. Thus, while Congress has determined that Trump engaged in insurrection, it has not removed the automatic disqualification of Section 3.

5. In the Final Report of the Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the the United States Capitol, the Committee noted “The Committee believes that those who took an oath to protect and defend the Constitution and then, on January 6th, engaged in insurrection can appropriately be disqualified and barred from holding government office—whether federal or state, civilian or military—absent at least two-thirds of Congress acting to remove the disability pursuant to Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment.” (Recommendation 4)

6. The text, meaning, and effect of Section 3 are clear and do not go up and down with opinion polls. The outcome of state and federal criminal trials of Trump do not affect the text, meaning, or effect of Section 3. Defiance in a mug shot is not relevant.

7. Section 1 of Article II stipulates that the Legislature of each State shall direct the “Manner” in which such State’s Electors shall be appointed.

8. The legislature and election officials of each State are responsible to determine whether Trump may appear on the ballot of such State and to consider all relevant factors, i.e., place of birth, age, residency, and disqualification for office under Section 3.

9. As election officials of each State act, or prepare to act, to include or exclude Trump from the ballot of such State, litigation may be unavoidable. Judges and Supreme Court Justices may soon be challenged to uphold, defend, and enforce the Constitution.

G. A. Mudge

Sharon

Two to compare

This summer, we are witness to two rather different examples of individuals that have stirred the imagination of the U.S. general public. Each, in his own way, has captured ‘lightning in a bottle’. One has moved a simple air filled ball with his feet in his journeys around a ‘pitch’ of green — all the while creating the excitement of your first birthday party, with all of your friends, with a dee-licious chocolate birthday cake covered in mouth-watering buttery icing. The other has squeezed as much ‘green’ out of his various and sundry journeys through the corridors of both state and federal judicial review and prosecution.

Leo Messi, arguably the greatest soccer player — certainly of our time (and quite possibly all time), has been paid a great deal of green to employ his skills for a U.S. soccer team — F.C. Inter Miami. From the start, he has done what all sports greats do — make his teammates better and produce in the clutch. He has taken his broad spectrum of signature abilities to  confound opposing players with his exceptional understanding of how human nature operates in competition, confuse his opponents with his sensational crafty spacial awareness, and perfectly time the employ of his consummate ‘ball skills’ to catch opponents off guard.

Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump has used his unrelenting p.r. skills to take us back to the carnival barkers of yore. Not since P.T. Barnum has the public been treated to such a continual barrage of hypnotic hucksterism laced with low brow paroxysms of self-serving boosterism. The ‘sell’ is all.

Trump has claimed greatness for himself — though I do not see him making any teammates better. As well, his ability to produce in the clutch suffers badly when one summarizes outcomes in elections in which he has backed candidates. Granted, Mr. Trump does confound, but it is not a plus when your own political party can’t follow your lead because they too are baffled. Alas, there is human nature to consider. Mr Trump claims this as his speciality. He keeps telling the American people that the ‘deep state’ isn’t going after him, but rather — going after them. The wild thing about this statement is that seems to be proving true in a butt-backward kind of way. By selling his legal plight to the masses through endless variously deceptive donation schemes, he has coopted the goodwill of a not insignificant segment of the citizenry. His selling his conspiracy laden assessment that the deep state is hell-bent on preventing his reelection to the presidency is playing well to the faithful. With this he continues to successfully milk the political donation cow at a singularly feverous, if not counterfeit, pace.

Mr. Messi is quite possibly the g.o.a.t of soccer (greatest of all time).

Mr. Trump is also quite possibly the g.o.a.t of politics (greatest of all truthers).     

Michael Moschen

Cornwall Bridge