Medical School Department Threatens to Resign ; Staff Went Through Proper Channels

              Medical School Department Threatens to Resign
By EVANGELINE TOLLESON
Journal Medical Writer
All staff members and doctors ac-tive
in the residency program of the
department of radiology at LSU
Medical Center are threatening to
resign unless Dr. Justin Wolfson,
head of radiology, is replaced im-mediately.
But Wolfson says he plans to stay
on the job, despite the threats of
resignation.
The rift developed over a series of
what staff members and residents
call "extremely poor judgments" by
Wolfson, who came to the center as
head of the department in August
1977.
All six staff members and four of
the five residents — one resident was
unavailable — recently discussed the
problems in the department during
an interview. They said a series of
"indecisions" by Wolfson has forced
delays in purchasing needed equip-ment
— including a computerized
axial tomography (cat) scanner,
used to provide x-rays of soft tissue.
The radiology department members
say the scanner is vital for a
teaching hospital involved in patient
care and if this and other problems
are not dealt with they all will be
gone from the department within six
months.
Radiology staff and residents said
since Wolfson came to the school,
obtaining additional personnel has
become increasingly difficult.
"Patient care will suffer because
of all these problems," one staff
member said. "The teaching of all
residents will suffer if we have to
leave. We'll have repercussions in all
the other departments."
Another doctor said, "We are seri-ously
concerned about the future of
the department and the school. We
lack confidence in his (Wolfson's)
ability as an administrator, teacher
and a leader of a large group of
people."
Wolfson said he is not responsible
for problems which have occurred in
the radiology department since his
arrival. "The department was in the
state of remarkable disarray when I
arrived," he said. "The staff was
very bitter toward the state, toward
Confederate Memorial and toward
the medical school."
The department head said that it is
The only answer to saving the
program is for him to either
resign or step aside . . .'
a common problem for new depart-ment
heads to have problems with
their staff members.
"Nobody can come into a new
institution without some element of
discontent. I'm so sensitive to the
feelings of my own staff and I'm very
concerned about the morale of my
people," Wolfson said.
Wolfson cited inadequate space,
old equipment and low salaries for
staff members and said that before
he accepted the position as chairman
he made a written agreement with
Dr. Ike Muslow, dean of the medical
center, which guaranteed he could
order a cat scanner when he arrived.
Dr. Eric Lang, former radiology
head, was reported to have resigned
in 1976 because Muslow would not
allow him to order a scanner, even
though funds had been appropriated
in 1974.
Patients requiring scanner work
often are transported to Willis-
Knighton Memorial Hospital for tes-ting.
Schumpert Medical Center and
Bossier General Hospital also have
cat scanners.
Staff members and residents said
not having the scanner is "inex-cusable"
because in emergencies,
patients must be moved to different
hospitals to take the tests. The medi-cal
center spends $100,000 a year to
have the studies performed at local
hospitals, the staff said. Cat scanner
units cost $600,000 to $700,000, they
said.
Wolfson said he has not ordered
the scanner, because many manu-facturers
last year were selling out
old models and creating newer ones
and he wanted to wait and see new
models used in clinical settings
before a choice was made.
Although the cat scanner issue was
a major complaint of the staff and
residents, all agreed that the real
problem is Wolfson's incapability to
make decisions and that even if a
scanner were ordered immediately,
they do not plan to stay at the center
unless he resigns as chairman or
changes his position to researcher.
Staff Went Through Proper Channels
By EVANGELINE TOLLESON
Journal Medical Writer
Staff members and residents in LSU Medical Center's
department of radiology who have asked for the resigna-tion
of their department chairman say they have gone
through all the "proper channels" in the LSU system up
to the chancellor himself, but have received no support
for their complaints.
Staff members and residents discussed in an interview
the steps they have taken since Wolfson arrived as
department head in August of 1977. They said they met
with Wolfson in February and discussed priorities of the
department including lack of equipment and problems
with recruitment. One staff member said the meeting
was a "heated discussion."
Staff members said they voiced their complaints about
the department to Dr. Ike Muslow, dean of LSU Medical
Center, in March. "We told him there were critical
problems in our department and said that Dr. Wolfson
cannot make a critical decision," one doctor stated.
In June, they discussed the matter again with the dean.
The radiology staff and residents said still no improve-ments
were made and that all staff members and junior
residents have begun searching for other positions.
Muslow would make no comments about the radiology
staff or Wolfson and would not return telephone calls.
"This is an internal academic situation, the solution of
which will require working internally with the parties
involved," said Mac Griffith, public information officer.
Staff members said they discussed their problems with
the chancellor of the LSU Medical Center system, Dr.
Allen Copping, in July. One member of the staff said
Copping "appeared to be concerned about the lack of
equipment" but said the problem has yet to be solved.
"This is an internal administrative matter germane
solely to the LSU School of Medicine in Shreveport, which
is now in the process of being resolved," Copping said.
"Therefore, to comment at this time I feel would be
inappropriate."
In September, Copping and Muslow appointed a com-mittee
composed of department heads to study the
situation, the staff members said. The group said a
special ad hoc committee consisted of Dr. John
McDonald, head of surgery; Dr. Marion Hargrove, head
of medicine; Dr. Larry Embry, head of neurology; Dr.
Perry Rigby, assistant dean for academics; and Dr.
Guilford Rudolph, head of biochemistry.
The ad hoc committee conducted separate taped
interviews with each staff member and resident, the
doctors explained. Their findings were not reported
directly to the radiology department, although the staff
members said Muslow later told them that he had
decided that Wolfson should stay on as head of the
department.
Staff members and residents said they have never
been given a reason why Muslow chose to keep Wolfson
as head of the department.
McDonald, a member of the advisory committee, said
the conclusion of the study is private information. "It's a
confidential and complex- matter involving a large
number of people," he said.
"It's not the (lack of) equipment
anymore. That's just a symptom of
the problem. The only answer to
saving the (radiology) program is
for him (Wolfson) to either resign or
step aside as chief immediately,"
one doctor explained, "Within a
week or two several of us may be
committed to go somewhere else."
The radiology department has
been discontented for many months
and at one point Wolfson had offered
his resignation to be applicable next
July. Muslow appointed a special
advisory committee to study the ra-diology
problems and several days
before the dean told the radiology
staff that Wolfson would stay, the
radiology chairman rescinded his
resignation.
Wolfson said his resignation was
an "exclusively personal decision"
and that he changed his mind, be-cause
"I thought that maybe I had
made a mistake." The department
head said the committee hearings
had no relation to the resignation or
rescission. He also said Muslow had
never acknowledged the resignation.
Wolfson said that several "lead-ers"
of the radiology staff turned
other staff members against him. "I
feel I have a fine relationship with
the residents," he said.
Residents expressed no "fine rela-tionship"
and rebutted the accusa-tion
about leaders. "We're all inde-pendent
thinkers — there were no
manipulators," one resident said.
The staff said only one staff mem-ber
has been recruited since
Wolfson's arrival. But Wolfson said
that recruitment for radiologists is a,
problem at all medical centers and
said there also has been an associate
professor and a biotechnician added
to the department.
"The tasks required to correct the
deficiencies within the departments
have been so mammoth that I have
spent a minimum of 65 hours a week
doing administrative chores, includ-ing
virtually every Saturday and
Sunday for the entire year, as well as
nights," Wolfson said. "A great deal
was accomplished as a result of
those efforts and many of those ef-forts
were directed very actively in
alleviating the problems of my
staff."
Staff members said good inten-tions
are not enough because results
are badly needed.
I