New LDS Apostle Quentin L. Cook

“How To Live in the World and Not Be of the World”

Excerpts From His Talks:

• “The word saint in Greek denotes “set apart, separate, [and] holy.” If we are to be Saints in our day, we need to separate ourselves from evil conduct and destructive pursuits that are prevalent in the world.”

• “There is less emphasis on honesty and character…”

Apostle Quentin L Cook

• “As Saints, we also need to avoid the worship of worldly gods. President Hinckley has expressed the desire that “everyone might have some of the good things of life” but has cautioned, “It is the obsession with riches that cankers and destroys.”

Indeed!

Meet Marin General Hospital

Marin County CA’s, Greatest Asset

• “It took some effort in the middle of the last century for activists to pass a general obligation bond, which made construction, possible of Marin General Hospital on donated land. Managed by five elected directors, the Marin Healthcare District filled a void. At last Marin had a full service hospital owned by the residents of the district (all of Marin except Novato ).”

Marin Hospital was a Cash Cow!

• Many Marin residents are unaware that MGH belongs to the public as do school districts, for example. District taxpayers paid for the hospital opened in 1952 on donated land. An east wing was added and more recently a west wing. The west wing is known to be seismically safe by current standards. Most of the inpatients are in that wing. The hospital additions were financed with revenue bonds. Since hospital bond revenue is not taxable, interest costs are acceptable.

For years MGH has been self-sustaining and profitable. In fact, it is a cash cow for its current operator, Sutter Health, the Sacramento-based hospital chain. Sutter acquired a 1985 hospital lease in 1996. The hospital is scheduled to return to community control in 2015 when the lease expires.

By 1985 The Hospital Was Paid For:• Free and Clear!!!! • The year was 1985. Marin General Hospital, paid

for by the residents of the hospital district, was 33 years old. The hospital administrator, Henry J. Buhrmann, had been on board since the devastating storm which began the year 1982. The hospital was run by five elected directors (Mary Carpou, Dr. Peter Eisenberg, Jeanine Gisvold, Dr. Grace Goebel d'Esmond, and Don McCrea-Hendrick). Buhrmann had selected the hospital district's attorney, Quentin Cook from Burlingame.

Practice Makes Perfect:

• “(CEO) Buhrmann came to MGH from Peninsula Hospital, Burlingame, which, by 1985, had been privatized by Quentin Cook. Both Buhrmann and Cook have (sic.) savvy. They were a smooth team.”

Millions of Public Assets Transferred

• In 1985 the hospital attorney, Quentin Cook, and its CEO, Henry J. Buhrmann, presented a 30 year lease to the five elected directors who signed without dissent. A shell corporation was formed with the hospital attorney and CEO assuming similar positions in the privatized hospital. Late 1985 millions of dollars of public assets were transferred to the new corporation which began operation behind closed doors. It still lacks transparency.

Quentin L Cook, Marin County Public Employee:

• (Quentin L) Cook wrote a lease for Buhrmann which the elected hospital board approved, possibly without reading it. The 1985 pitch was that privatizing was necessary in order to "save" the hospital. By operating behind closed doors, competitors would be kept in the dark. (So would be the people who owned the hospital, the residents of the hospital district.)

Violating the Public Trust

• “I know no lawyer more agile than Quentin Cook who, once the hospital was privatized, jumped sides to become the lawyer for the privatized hospital. (shell corporation that he himself created to manage the Marin County Hospital.)”

Public Guarantees Private Debt

• What are the obligations? Any time there is more money in the hospital bank account(s) than needed for 14 days operation, Sutter has the right to sweep. This is known as "excess cash transfer.“

• What I consider more dangerous is that MGH became one of the guarantors of Sutter's massive aggregate debt.

And Stealing Public Assets

• In 1986 the hospital "affiliated" with California Healthcare System, San Francisco. Affiliation cost millions of dollars.

• The 1985 lease is so loose that patient revenue can be used for anything and need not be returned. Some patient revenue even made it to the Cayman Islands on a one-way trip.

For Personal Profit

• In 1996 California Healthcare System and MGH were merged into Sutter Health, Sacramento. Quentin Cook by then also was CEO of CHS. His 1995 CEO salary was $311,479 just from CHS. The same year Buhrmann paid himself $379,401 as MGH CEO. Buhrmann, in the 1996 merger also became a Sutter official.

Finally, Marin Voters Took Action

• Everything went according to hospital management plans until November of 1996. Voters recalled two elected board members and voted in two consumer advocates to the Marin Health Care District. Suddenly the majority of the board consisted of watchdogs. Lapdogs were now in the minority.

• Immediately the management of MGH began a campaign for mediation between the elected board and the hospital

Quentin Cook: Professional Thief

• Both sides agreed on an Oakland lawyer, William Quinby, as mediator. With luck and the determination of a strong elected board we may wind up with a better hospital. An alternative would be to retrieve the hospital by suit. E1 Camino Hospital, Mountain View, did just that. It was the last hospital privatized by Quentin Cook. The elected directors got it back. It now operates profitably, openly and honestly.

The Biggest Theft in County History!

• The public did not know. There were poorly-publicized meetings, inadequately covered by the local press. Dissenters were hardly noticed. I read the lease and wonder how anyone could sign it….

• Gary Giacomini, then a county supervisor, called it "the biggest theft of public property in Marin's history."

Cook Violated California Law!• The Healthcare Board in 1997 made an attempt

to return the hospital to community control. The basis of a lawsuit heard in Sacramento Superior Court was that Buhrmann and Cook violated California Government Code, Section 1090, which prohibits public employees from making contracts to benefit themselves.

But Judges Covered For Him!

• The Sacramento judge ruled that the four years statute of limitations had been exceeded. She made no ruling on the merits of the case.

• The California Supreme Court concurred. • By case law the judge could have considered

the case because there is traditionally no time limit when public property is involved.

• MGH quality of care issues never seem to end. An 80 page Federal Government investigation reported in the Marin Independent Journal April 11 described more than 50 separate patient-endangering deficiencies. Sutter spends a fortune on display ads and mailings, money that could be diverted to patient care.

Above all, Sutter is a bottom line business. Expect no services at MGH that are not profitable for Sutter. For example, in 1999 when Ross Hospital closed, Marin County psychiatric beds dropped from 59 to 17. What with 42 fewer beds, children and adolescents requiring inpatient care must be sent to another county with available beds. Treatment of an adolescent with acute psychosis, such as a schizophrenic break or from drugs, becomes enormously difficult. MGH had 17 adult psychiatric beds in 1999 and not one bed more in 2004.

Sutter's primary interest if not MGH, it's Sutter. Endoscopy (e.g. colonoscopy) is a lucrative part of hospital outpatient service. Sutter is involved in a joint venture with local endoscopists on South Eliseo. Sutter, not MGH, is the beneficiary. Medi-Cal endoscopy remains at MGH. Dismembering a hospital does not strengthen it.

Money Laundering?

• Sutter talks about its "not-for-profit mission." True, as MGH and Sutter Health are structured, the hospital and Sutter Health pay no taxes. But profits can be siphoned to for-profits. Siphoning may not be ethical, but it's legal. Millions of dollars of patient revenue have been siphoned since lease inception. Some monies even made it to the Cayman Islands on one-way trips. Siphoned monies are monies unavailable for patient care.

And Look Who Has Paid the Price

• The ratio of nursing staff (RN, LVN, aide) to inpatients places MGH in the lowest quartile of hospitals. (16) Hospitals reduce expenses (and increase profit) by lean staffing.

• Sutter/MGH reduced inpatient registered nurse staffing from 359,982 hours in 1992 to 201,596 hours in 1996, a 42% reduction for the same number of patients. (17)

• Sutter/MGH reduced the hours of licensed technicians (physical therapists, pharmacists, phlebotomists) available for inpatients from 39,026 hours in 1992 to 10,205 in 1996, a 73.9% reduction. (18)

• Use of unlicensed caregivers per patient increased almost 1000% (9,577 hours, 1992; 93,660, 1996). (19)

Is This What Jesus Would Do?• Sutter/MGH kept secret until this year the January 1995 JCAHO Full

Survey accreditation visit that resulted in a score ranking MGH in the lowest 5% of hospitals. (20)

• Numerous complaints have been filed with the State Department of Health Services describing life-threatening care to acutely ill Marin patients. (21)

• In March 1997 Sutter/MGH testified before the District Board that, while MGH is licensed for 235 beds, the Corporation had no capacity for more than 140 beds within 36 hours following a disaster, and that it would not keep beds available for use only in an emergency. (22)

• Since August 1997, Sutter/MGH no longer guarantees full-time neurosurgical staffing. (23) Physicians contend Sutter/MGH has an "attitude" problem. (24)

• Cutbacks at Sutter/MGH have raised widespread concern over the adequacy and availability of emergency and medical service, as exemplified by the death of Jennifer Childs on September 27, 1997. (25)

And The Lies Continued…

• Sutter/MGH pleaded no contest and paid a $27,000 penalty to false advertising charges lodged by William Rothman, MD, former Healthcare District Director. (26)

• A recent letter in the Independent Journal suggested it is as if we leased our fire department to a corporation that decided it would not serve steeply sloped areas of Marin.

Filthy Lucre?• Since the lease took effect, millions of dollars have been

diverted from patient care to fuel skyrocketing executive salaries and, since 1995, to promote Sutter's financial growth. When the District managed MGH, it paid its CEO Henry Buhrmann a $75,000 salary.

• (27) As the Sutter/MGH CEO, Buhrmann's 1996 pay package was about $500,000. (28) In contrast, Washington Healthcare District in Hayward pays its CEO $250,000, including a $25,000 bonus.

• Tax returns indicate the 1996 pay package for Robert Montgomery, the Sutter executive who sits on the MGH Corp. Board, was $716,000, (29) and for Sutter's CEO Van Johnson, $1.1 million. (30)

Marin Hospital Gives Sutter 22% of Its Net Income!!!

• Audited HAFD reports filed with OSHPD show MGH Corp. earned $2.1 million in net profit in 1995 and $5.2 million in 1996 (31). In 1997,

• Sutter disclosed a 1996 systemwide net income of $23.7 million (32). MGH, averaging 100 patients per day in 1996 and one of 26 hospitals in the Sutter system, contributed an astounding 22% of Sutter's total net income. Clearly Sutter/MGH has the financial means to fund on-call neurosurgery coverage at a reported cost of $1,000 every fourth weekend. (33)

Bleeding Marin Hospital Dry

• With the 1995 merger, Sutter required MGH Corp. to obtain District approval to join the Obligated Group and Excess Cash Transfer Programs. The Obligated Group facilitates Sutter's access to capital. Not all Sutter subsidiaries participate. For example, Sutter has 26 hospitals, but its 1996 bond issue shows 13 in the Obligated Group, including MGH. (36)

• Concerned District residents mounted a vigorous campaign to oppose District approval of the Obligated Group and Excess Cash Transfer Program, but the District Board approved them with two Directors voting: Valerie Bergmann and Suzanna Coxhead. Director Larry Bedard (later recalled due to conflict of interest) formed the quorum but abstained from the vote. Director Paul Lofholm (also recalled due to conflict of interest) recused himself. Director Diana Parnell wisely declined to participate in forming the quorum. (37)

Saddling The Public With Debt:

• Sutter's tax-exempt revenue bonds are guaranteed by the entities in the Obligated Group, which include MGH and Marin Home Care. According to Sutter's 1997 bond issue, "All members of the Obligated Group are jointly and separately liable with respect to the payment of each obligation incurred." (38)

• What have been the consequences of the Obligated Group to MGH and District residents? In 1995, Sutter owed about $800 million in tax-exempt bonds. Two years later, Sutter owes over $1 billion in tax-exempt bonds. (39)

Illegal Offshore Transactions?

• Sutter is a mixed-status conglomerate. This means some Sutter subsidiaries are privately held or publicly traded for-profit corporations and others are non-profit (40). Some subsidiaries, including one in which MGH Corp. holds stock, are located in the Cayman Islands. (41)

• Cayman Islands’ Banks have a reputation for their ability to “launder” drug money and other funds used by organized crime!

Other Crimes…

• The State Controller is investigating Sutter's use of tax-exempt funds to support for-profit subsidiaries. (42)

• IRS investigators found evidence of illegal private gain by Sutter Directors that could result in loss of its tax-exempt status. (43)

• Sutter pleaded guilty to Medicare billing fraud. (44) Should Sutter lose its tax-exempt status or default on its bonds, Obligated Group members will be required to use their future revenue to retire more than $1 billion in bonds, even if the members never benefited from them.

• The District Board asked Sutter/MGH to provide details to District residents about MGH participation in the Obligated Group. On October 20, 1997, Sutter/MGH declined to provide such information.

The “Apostle’s” Lease

1. The lease fails to protect healthcare assets created by and for District residents.

• All the District’s cash, accounts receivables, and inventory were transferred to Sutter/MGH. Virtually no monetary consideration was given in return.

• The lease has no provision for the transferred cash and assets to be returned to the District upon termination.

• The lease permits capital improvement credits in lieu of cash rent, but makes no provision for Sutter/MGH to return these improved assets to the District upon lease termination; nor does it allow the District to approve or oversee these capital improvement credits.

The “Apostle’s Lease

• Sutter/MGH is allowed to sell District assets, without input from the District. Proceeds from asset sales stay with Sutter/MGH, without compensation to the District. No provision guarantees sale proceeds will be used for healthcare purposes within the District.

• Sutter/MGH is not required to carry earthquake insurance, or to replace the physical assets after a major disaster. Additionally, the District could not end the lease if Sutter/MGH decided not to rebuild.

The “Apostle’s Lease• The lease does not require actual patient care, quality assurance,

or financial reports from Sutter/MGH. No safeguards exist to allow the District to meaningfully monitor Sutter/MGH performance or to require remedial action in case of unsatisfactory performance.

• Sutter/MGH pays the District virtually no cash rent. Consequently, the lease fails to provide the District with sufficient income to perform its legislatively mandated duties. Among others, these include overseeing Sutter/MGH's lease compliance or participating meaningfully in the District’s mandated Healthy Community obligations. Further, the District has no ability to prevent Sutter/MGH from closing currently offered services such as psychiatric inpatient care, or to fund services needed but not offered by Sutter/MGH such as a neurosurgeon on call.

• The lease lacks a provision for the District to end the lease for financial or operational mismanagement, or for non-operation.

The “Apostles” Lease

• http://members.aol.com/mshcc/stats/facts.htm

• See the Above Link for more Details.

LDS Apostle Quentin L. Cook

1. Should be Disbarred as an Attorney for “Conflict of Interest” in enriching himself at his Client’s Expense!

2. Should Be Prosecuted for Grand Theft by the California Attorney General!

3. Should Be Prosecuted For Fraud, Tax Fraud and Money Laundering by the U.S. Attorney General!

But, We All Realize…

• There is one set of Laws for the Wealthy Political Donors.

• And One Set of Laws for the Rest of Us!

• The United States has “abandoned” its Rule of Law.

Lets Pretend He Robbed a Bank

• Is he still a “Bank Robber” if he never gets caught?

• Would You Feel Comfortable Letting Him be Your Ward’s Financial Clerk?

• How About Helping to Manage the Finances of the Church? He does sit on the “Disposition of Tithes Committee”

If Our Church is True to Its Members…

• “New LDS Apostle Quentin L. Cook”

Will Admit That He has not Repented of these Crimes nor returned his millions in ill-gotten gains.

Will Confess to His Crimes.

Will Resign Immediately and Strive to Repair the Damage his Greed has done to its community and the Church!

If Our Leaders Are True to the Lord:

• They Will Demand that this resignation take place immediately.

• Admit that they failed in their due diligence and appropriate background checks before they issued the call.

• Apologize for the Damage and Ill-will created by this appointment.

Otherwise We Can Expect:

• Legal and Other Attacks against those that brought this issue to their attention.

• Accusations of “Apostasy” for not blindly supporting a documented “criminal” in such a High Calling.

• A Cover-up of the Facts and a Total Whitewash in the Utah Media.

They Forced Out Paul H. Dunn

• For Lying about much less….

They Can Force Out Cook…

• If They Want Too….