Introduction:

Anything worth standing up for is likely, to someone else, worth standing against. As a rule of thumb, you can bet that if you have an idea of how to make something better, you will face opposition, and that opposition will come from the party that would have to pay to implement that improvement, or the party that would be liable if it failed to implement that improvement.

The first time I was made aware of this was by Andrew Vachss, who told me that the greatest opposition to the "Oprah Bill" (which established the National Sex Offenders Registry) was the Boy Scouts of America. Why? Because the Boy Scouts stood to lose millions of dollars in law suits if they failed to properly screen their "den mothers" and "den fathers."

More recently, I was made to understand this "money trail" while trying to convince an Oregon legislator to create laws which would establish the minimum background check to be run on, and minimum training to be given to, anyone working in an Oregon care-giving facility. My greatest opposition: Doernbecher Children's Hospital, a local hospital that is nationally renowned for its outstanding work aiding children. Following is the story to date, one which I hope to conclude before a predator does the job for me.   —Lou Bank

When Bureaucracy Replaces Responsibility
by Lou Bank, 07/01/97

An update to Are Children Safe in Our Hospitals?

When I cash a check, the teller demands to see my driver’s license. Even when I’m just renting a video I have to have it. When I donate blood, get a new library card, or pick up packages at the local post office, I might as well turn around and go home if I don’t have my photo I.D. But when I want to go play with children interned at Doernbecher Children’s Hospital, all I’ve got to show is a big smile and a bold, happy attitude—they don’t even ask to see my driver’s license. This was made abundantly clear to me over the last few months.

My article, “Are Children Safe in Our Hospitals?” was forwarded to Dr. Peter Kohler, President of OHSU, by Oregon Senator Ron Wyden. Kohler, in turn, forwarded the article to the Volunteer Services Department at OHSU and Doernbecher, and they “responded” to my comments in a letter. I place “responded” in quotes because the author, Ivy Nelson, the Director of Volunteer Services for OHSU, never addresses my points. She very clearly summarizes what the department does when hiring a volunteer, but never addresses what my article points out, what they fail to do.

In a response to Ms. Nelson, I again point out the failures of the current system: the failure to institute even the most minimal security measures, and the failure to provide adequate training to volunteers. Ms. Nelson’s response is to invite me to a meeting with herself and two other OHSU/Doernbecher staff members involved with the volunteer program.

At this meeting, which took place on June 4, 1997, I was told why the hospital didn’t ask to see photo I.D. when hiring volunteer employees: because they don’t require it for paid employees, and Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity regulations won’t allow them to do to one group what they don’t do to the other. This scared me, that they had an entire staff that had never had their identities confirmed; at least, it scared me until I learned the truth, that they did, in fact, look at photo I.D.s for paid employees. They have to. Federal law requires all employers to complete an I9 form for every paid employee, a form which verifies that each employee is a US citizen; to complete that form, the Human Resources department must see a photo I.D. and Social Security card.

I informed the Volunteer Services Department of this by phone, but never heard back. This, combined with the fact that I was asked to revise my documentation of events, has lead me to the inevitable conclusion that Doernbecher has no intention of changing their procedures. But that doesn’t mean that they won’t. It just means that I have to take this battle to the next level.