DA calls UMC ad violation of policy

Adrienne Packer

Friday, July 26, 2002 | 11:17 a.m.

A University Medical Center advertisement advocating tort reform to end the medical malpractice crisis violated Clark County's policy prohibiting the use of taxpayer money to promote one side of a political issue, the District Attorney's office ruled.

In her legal opinion released today, Deputy District Attorney Mary-Anne Miller said the advertisement clearly supports one position in the ongoing debate on how to resolve the problem.

"The language clearly does more than merely thank people or provide neutral information," Miller wrote. "It advocates a position and urges community support for one side of a hotly contested legislative issue."

The full-page ad that ran in Sunday's combined edition of the Las Vegas Sun and Review-Journal thanked officials who helped reopen UMC's trauma center, which closed for 10 days when physicians resigned due to skyrocketing medical malpractice insurance premiums.

The ad also pushed for tort reform, physicians' proposed resolution to their battle with insurance companies and lawyers over the insurance rates.

Brown and Partners, which conceived and designed the advertisement is contracted to provide public relations service to UMC, but has also been hired to represent doctors in the debate.

Miller said she has shared her concerns about the public relation firm's dual role with Bill Hale, UMC's chief executive officer.

"It is a concern," she said today. "We have cautioned Bill Hale to, in any situation that could involve a conflict or involves the doctors' push for tort reform, to converse with legal counsel before he takes action."

Hale authorized the ad without seeking a legal opinion or approval from the hospital's Board of Trustees. Employees who approve the improper spending of public money is subject to sanctions, the legal opinion says.

Dale Pugh, UMC's assistant administrator, said this morning he had yet to see Miller's opinion, but hospital officials will comply with her direction.

"Our intent was not to create a controversy, but to simply communicate issues that we think are imperative to operations at UMC," Pugh said.

Miller said Hale believed he was following the direction of Clark County commissioners -- who double as the hospital's Board of Trustees. During a special meeting last month, the board directed Hale to develop bill proposals that could be considered during the Legislature's special session, which begins Monday.

"He believed the message of ad was within the direction of the board at the emergency meeting -- the need to get some legislation to help out the hospital," Miller said. "He felt like this was serving purpose tort reform would help hospital."

A full-page advertisement in Sunday's newspaper typically costs $15,000. UMC, however, received a government discount and paid about $9,000.

Miller said physicians have agreed to pay half the amount; the hospital will absorb half because the portion of the ad that thanked community members was appropriate.

The advertisement troubled administrators at the Clark County Government Center, which ultimately oversees the public hospital, because of it did not appear to be neutral.

The portion of the ad that caught administrators' attention says, "(Tort reform) is a solution that has worked in other states. Most importantly, it's a solution that will work in Nevada.

"As a community, we must support (physicians) as they work to stabilize health care across Southern Nevada."