Doing the right thing is most important

Kathleen Silver, Las Vegas

Monday, Feb. 25, 2008 | 2:01 a.m.

Recently the Las Vegas Sun profiled the three finalists for the position of chief executive officer of University Medical Center. I am honored to be one of those three profiled. During my interview with reporter Marshall Allen, I was asked questions about the conduct of Lacy Thomas and my reactions to his conduct.

During the time I worked with Mr. Thomas, I found his leadership style to be questionable, but not illegal. I never observed any criminal conduct on the part of Mr. Thomas. While Mr. Thomas was at UMC, I had no involvement with the contracts mentioned in the indictment. For this reason, I was never called before the grand jury that investigated him.

Some employees, who dared to question Mr. Thomas about his leadership style during his tenure at UMC, were ultimately asked to resign by him. My comments about being “fired” were directly related to those incidents.

I have lived in Las Vegas for more than 30 years. I have been active in the health care industry for more than 25 years and I have been at UMC for a combined total of more than 12 years. I believe in UMC, and I understand its obligations to the community. I also believe in honesty and integrity, which have been guiding principles throughout my career.

Had I been aware of any criminal conduct by Mr. Thomas I would have gone directly to the appropriate authorities. At that point, no threat of being “fired” would have stopped me from doing the right thing.

The writer is interim chief executive officer of University Medical Center.