Letters to the editor Letters to the editor (December 23, 2005)

Hospital 'profits' came from patients

Editor:

I was shocked to read your headline about the resignation of the CEO of El Camino Hospital: "Lee Domanico praised for lucrative five-year stint at El Camino."

The only thing lucrative about his tenure was the amount of money he was able to extract from the elected hospital district board. What does it actually mean when a "non-profit" makes a profit of $30 million? It means that the patients of El Camino Hospital were overcharged by that amount.

Why would the board retroactively award Domanico a pay raise in salary from $441,000 to $520,000 (with total compensation last year of almost $1 million, not including stock options from hospital vendors), and then accept his resignation? It's because the board is fiscally irresponsible.

The elected members of the board should follow Lee Domanico out the door and be replaced by citizens who will operate the hospital for the benefit of its owners, and not for the benefit of the CEO. John Niemic Latham Street

CEO didn't stem hospital's high prices

Editor:

I had to laugh at your article praising departing El Camino Hospital CEO Lee Domanico.

Last August, my 18-month-old daughter was sent to El Camino for an X-ray of her dislocated right elbow. I received a bill for $508.50 for this five-minute X-ray that produced three images. (I was "under-insured" at the time.)

I suppose if I made $900,000 per year, I wouldn't be sending this letter. But it seems to me this purported "financial turnaround" everyone is praising Domanico for is really just charging ridiculous amounts for services that people don't have time to "shop" around for.

I believe a "financial turnaround" would include getting costs under control so that a five-minute X-ray costs $50, instead of $508.50. Clearly, Mr. Dominico has failed in this regard. Hopefully, the next CEO will understand and serve the community better rather than enrich himself at the expense of the community he is supposed to serve. Michael Lee Latham Street

Rude dog owner needs a lesson

Editor:

I love dogs and very much like the fact that Mountain View has two locations for owners to allow them to romp, unencumbered by leashes.

However, I have observed a blatant disregard by irresponsible dog owners who allow their dogs to go free well before reaching the Cuesta Park site. My 9-year-old son was walking towards our car Friday evening, after a tennis lesson, when three dogs leapt out of a nearby bush. He was so startled that he ran.

The dogs reached him immediately, biting at his shoes, terrorizing him further. It was quite dark. My wife was nearby and asked the owner, a man who had done nothing to call off his dogs, why they were not on leashes. His response was that they were almost to the dog run site. From where he was, the dogs had been loose for quite some distance, possibly over a hundred yards to the nearest parked car.

The owner then started to lecture my son, saying that by running away from the dogs, he had brought it all on himself. A friend then told the owner that the law states leashes must be on the dogs and not around his neck. He then gave her the Hitler salute, saying "Frau Hitler."

What a lovely human being. It is up to all of us to shame those who blatantly break the leash law, especially at night when freed dogs can startle and even harm small children.

I suggest we all raise the stakes. By objecting to their behavior and confronting them often, some may eventually tire of embarrassment, and do the right thing. Dogs are lovable, but some owners clearly aren't. David Stubbs Andre Avenue

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