UPDATED
Senator Man-Handled, Handcuffed In Run Up To Rowdy Grady Meeting

(Updated overnight with reaction from state leaders. New material highlighted.)

Click here to view text of resolution.

By Dick Pettys
InsiderAdvantage Georgia

(11/27/07) A state senator was man-handled and briefly handcuffed Monday in the emotionally-charged run-up to a decision by the trustees of Grady Hospital to begin a process that could lead to the shifting of day-to-day management of the financially-struggling facility to a nonprofit corporation, just as business and political leaders have urged for months. But overnight reaction from top legislative leaders shows this isn't necessarily a done deal.

As crowds of protesters began gathering for the meeting Monday afternoon, Sen. Vincent Fort of Atlanta, an active and vocal opponent of the move, was wrestled against a corridor wall by security guards after he tried to lead protesters through a security door and toward the meeting area.

He was handcuffed briefly at one point but was released from the shackles a few minutes later. Nonetheless, the fracas apparently resulted in the meeting being moved to a larger facility, where Fort took a seat up front and remained a vocal presence, successfully demanding at one point that the board hear from the public.

Click here for a sound clip of Fort just after the incident.

After agreeing to hear from the public, the board got an earful in mostly unpleasant terms, sometimes with racial overtones. Opponents, including labor union activists, hospital workers, patients and clergy, spent over an hour berating the board. One speaker referred to “sell-out Uncle Toms” and others, like the Rev. Timothy McDonald, blamed the hospital’s problems on Gov. Sonny Perdue. He said the governor could solve the hospital’s problems “with a stroke of the pen.”

McDonald added: “A nonprofit ain’t gonna solve this problem” and added, “The Grady Coalition will do whatever we need to do, including civil disobedience.”

In the end, the board approved a six-page resolution which charts the course for the creation of a 501 (c) (3) corporation to manage the hospital if certain conditions are met. Some of them could be deal killers, judging by the overnight reaction from lawmakers.

Among the conditions:

* The business leaders who have committed to find $200 million in new funds for the hospital must make a written commitment to provide that money over a four-year period for the system’s capital and or operational needs.

* The leaders who have promised to secure donations for another $100 million must provide written confirmation to undertake a good-faith campaign to raise that money.

* The governor, lieutenant governor and Speaker of the House must each provide written confirmation of their intent to support additional direct financial assistance from the state of not less than $30 million a year, along with necessary budget measures to implement and fund a statewide trauma network to provide additional support and a commitment to further support medical education in the state by at least $30 million.

* The Metro Chamber of Commerce must provide written confirmation of its intent to continue to support the long-term financial viability of Grady through lobbying and other activities, including possible sales and other tax support for the system.

* The Emory and Morehouse medical schools, which provide all of Grady’s doctors, must provide written confirmation of their commitment to maintain current staffing levels, to enter into negotiations to restructure any and all debt owed them by Grady and to enter into negotiations to renegotiate the existing medical school contracts, including the “closed medical staff” provision that excludes other doctors.

Dr. Christopher Edwards, the vice chairman of the board, told the argumentative audience, “The question is, if we don’t do anything, what happens if this hospital closes?”

Without the infusion of cash that was promised for an agreement to convert to a nonprofit status, Grady will be in a zero cash position the third week in December, he said.

Board member Tommy Dortch and others tried to assure the skeptical audience that Grady would remain true to its historic mission of caring for the needy, and he said if all the contract terms aren’t met, there will be no conversion.

Predictably, top legislative leaders weren't enthralled with the conditions the resolution attempts to impose on the state.

""I don't think the Legislature responds well to blackmail," Senate President Pro Tem Eric Johnson told the AJC. "Grady cannot be treated any different than any other hospital."

Clelia Davis, the spokeswoman for House Speaker Glenn Richardson, told the newspaper: "Today's attempt by the board of Grady [Memorial] Hospital to control the Legislature is simply unacceptable. This is not a negotiation."