Two Hospitals, Two Strategies For Handling "60 Minutes"
On Sunday, "60 Minutes" aired a segment called "Dumped On Skid Row," about the practice of hospitals depositing homeless people with severe problems on the streets of Los Angeles.
Video: Unsurprisingly, the two hospitals spotlighted did not come off well. But while one, Kaiser Permanente, did not make anyone available to "60 Minutes" to defend its conduct, the other, Hollywood Presbyterian, agreed to have someone speak in front of the camera.
Kaylor Shemberger, the head of Hollywood Presbyterian, essentially blamed those directly involved for the incident discussed in the segment. That prompted correspondent Anderson Cooper to ask at one point, "And to those who say that you're basically making a scapegoat of this low paid van driver?" Shemberger also said this: "Well, Anderson, let me tell you straight up that we're as shocked and outraged about this incident as anybody." That quote made the introduction of the broadcast.
As a viewer, I have to say that even though Shemberger was accused of scapegoating, he did score some points. (Kaiser gave "60 Minutes" a statement, and the broadcast also used video of Kaiser Vice President Diana Bonta apologizing at a Skid Row press conference.) I discussed the effectiveness of the two hospitals' handling of "60 Minutes" with Michael Rosenbaum, who produced the segment.
"My feeling is that you're always better off explaining yourself. But I'm the journalist so I'm always trying to get people to do that," he said. Rosenbaum argued that when people decline to be interviewed the viewer can be "left with the feeling that they didn't have any answers to give."
He also said that one could persuasively argue that since hospitals receive significant amounts of taxpayer money, they have an obligation to explain their actions.
"I think these institutions have certain obligations that transcend being some private company in terms of explaining themselves to public," he said. "The single largest source of income to hospitals is Medicare and Medicade. This is not General Motors."
Kaiser had agreed to talk to "60 Minutes" but backed out of the agreement a few days before the interview was to take place. Rosenbaum said that Hollywood Presbyterian had been skeptical about appearing on the show, which is the typical response of any organization that is being criticized in a "60 Minutes" piece.
"They wanted to make sure we were going to be fair," he said. "We satisfied them that we were not going to do a hatchet job."