Even doctors are fed up with medical care

Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane, Washington, is losing an emergency room doctor. Dr. Jovan Ojdrovic has worked at Sacred Heart for 23 years but has decided to retire because he believes patient care and safety are being sacrificed for profit. These changes, Ojdrovic says, have happened over the past three years. Administration has put a greater emphasis on profit and has also cut doctor pay by some 30 percent.

Administration at Sacred Heart counters that staff has been reduced to increase efficiency and reduce redundancy and that medical care costs have increased, so the hospital has to make fiscally responsible changes. It also says patient care will not be impacted negatively by any changes.

Ojdrovic, too, says he believes patients can still get good care at the Sacred Heart ER, but he wants to bring attention to the changes at the hospital before things get worse. For more on this story, seethis article.