Saving Lives, Ruining Lives: Developing Story at University of Virginia Health System, UVA Medical School

According to the University of Virginia's student newspaper, the Daily Cavalier, a group of 128 doctors have written a formal letter demanding that CEO of UVA Health Craig Kent and UVA Medical School Dean Melina Kibbe resign. 

The open 5-page letter states that Kent and Kibb allowed “egregious acts” to occur at U.Va. Health and the School of Medicine, including hiring doctors with questionable quality of work, subjecting residents to harassment, excessive spending on executives instead of addressing staffing shortages, a lack of transparency on financial matters and violations of the Board of Visitors-approved code of ethics.

Virginia is a right-to-work state, but that does not prohibit doctors, nurses, and other hospital employees from voicing their concerns and organizing unions. Members of AAUP have been working to bring this story to light. 

According to a Kaiser Health News story from 2019, UVA Health filed 36,000 lawsuits against patients in a six-year period, seeking a total of more than $106 million in unpaid bills, and ruining many people's lives in the process. 

Posts on a Reddit page for medicine have mentioned issues with UVA and Melina Kibbe. Some of these problems have also been mentioned on the Charlottesville page.

The Higher Education Inquirer will release more information as it becomes available.  

Related links:

‘UVA Has Ruined Us’: Health System Sues Thousands of Patients, Seizing Paychecks and Claiming Homes (KFF News) 

The Future of Publicly Funded University Hospitals