Evening star., 1948-03-12
Mason Studies
New Jurisdiction
For Ga||inger
Likes Ideu of Shift
Of Administration to
Hospital Department

s'SSftte' SSP0s ttiiSut
Commissioner Guy Mason says he
has been giving serious thought "for
a long time" to a proposal that
Gallinger Hospital administration
should be taken away from the
municipal Health Department and
turned over to new department of
hospitals.
He did not get the idea, Mr.. Mason
told reporters late yesterday, from
DR.. Brian Blades and DR.. Robert j.
Cofey, who head the hospitals
visiting surgical staff and last week
lambasted the present Gallinger
setup. Mr.. Mason said he had been
thinking along those lines for some
time before the doctors spoke up.
The Commissioner said the doctors
statement merely had served to
"hurt morale" at the hospital.
DR.. Blades is chief of the surgical
department at George Washington
University, DR.. Coffey holds the
same post at Georgetown University.
On Monday, Mr.. Mason bitterly at
tackled DR.. Blades as ''holier-t than
thou" critic who had used his official
connection to sneak an unauthorized
Baltimore patient into Galllnger.
On Wednesday, he took that back
and apologized to the doctor.
Leans Toward Proposal.
Last night, Mr.. Mason indicated
he is leaning toward the proposal
made by the two doctors. He said,
however, it would had been better II
they had not made it publicly.
MIR. Mason asserted that when DR..
Blades issued his statement on Gal
linger with DR.. Coffey, he tDr.
Blades had known for three days
that Mr.. Mason already was con-
sidering the idea. This, he indicated,
is the cause of part of his continued
resentment of the part played by
the university authorities in the
Gallinger picture.
Another part of it, he said, is the
fact that the doctors at George
Washington, believing that Health
Officer George G. Ruhland might
retire this year, hav. tried unsuc-
cessfully to persuade Mr.. Mason that
they should be allowed to pick his
successor.
They're really in hurry to bore
In" Mr.. Mason said.
George Washington and George
town Universities, which now supply
the city hospital with most of its
doctors, would assume control OF
the medical care of patients under
the new plan, while the department
of hospitals would take over the
business administration of the insti-
tuition.
Plan Used Elsewhere.
Such a plan now is in operation at
Bellevue Hospital in New York and
in numerous other cities. Mr.. Mason
said the scheme first was called to
his attention several weeks ago"
in a report on administrative re-
organization of the District Govern
ment, prepared by Budget Officer
Walter L. Fowler. He asked Mr..
Fowler, he said, to present him with
full details of the Bellevue system.
Mr.. Mason said he would make up
his mind only after careful study
of the proposal. He indicated,
though, his present impression is
that the scheme would make sense
here.
Il haven't got the ak out for
anybody" Mr. Mason said. But 1t
appears that under the present set
up Gallinger can only be the STEP
child of a Health Department
primarily engaged in preventive
medicine rather than in curative or
treatment medicine. That is not a
healthy situation"
Mr.. Mason said he told DR.. Blades
on February q that he was studying
the possibilities of the Bellevue plan
and made notes on the surgeons
criticisms of equipment in Gallinger.
That, he said, was in the Office and
the presence of DR.. Walter Bloedorn,
dean of the George Washington
Medical School, who practices med
icine as a partner of Mr.. Mason's
personal physician, DR.. Paul F.
Dickens, at 1885 l street NV.
Old Idea. Blades Says.
DR.. Blades, who launched his at
tack on the Gallinger setup March 2,
had mo comment" to make on Mr..
Mason's latest assertions last night.
Il certainly do not pose as the
author of this plan" he said. ut is
an old and obvious idea, which has
been kicked around for long time
If it is Mr. Masons idea now, that
is entirely all right by me. All I
want to do is help"
1t was at this March meeting
In DR.. Bloedorn's Office that the
George Washington doctors let it
be known they wanted to name a
new health officer" Mr.. Mason said,
adding he told them that was a job
for the Commissioners.
Both he and they, Mr.. Mason ex-
planned, were under the mistaken
impression Health Officer Ruhland
would be due for retirement when
he reaches the age of 10 next May.
The Commissioner said he has since
learned that DR.. Rutland will not
have completed Is years service
the minimum for retirementz-until
March. 1885,
pnsaarrh anter Tife