The Utah State Hospital has been the center of a smoldering controversy for several months.
Now the Utah Legislative Social Services Interim Study Committee has passed a motion asking the attorney general to investigate possible malfeasance and misappropriation of funds at the Provo institution.
Dr. Roger S. Kiger, superintendent, quickly welcomed the investigation and said that the hospital has nothing to hide . He took occasion also to express pride in the hospital’s operation of providing quality care for the patients.
The low key controversy was fed by a report by the auditor general who asserted there was “overstocking on some food items; that an excessive number of vehicles had been acquired; and that some things purchased could not be found.
Dr. Kiger declared that in all of the discussions, no complaints have been made about patient care. “And that’s what this hospital is all about and that is what I am concerned with, the care of our patients,” he said.
The Department of Social Services decided some time ago to split the administration of the hospital under two heads. An administrator has been appointed, due at the hospital Aug. 8, to handle the business operation; and, it is understood, a clinical director is to be named. Meantime, Dr. Kiger is still superintendent. His status after the new administrator arrives hasn’t been made clear.
With an investigation at the hospital now requested, it is hoped the probe will be made speedily and objectively so that the controversy can be settled once and for all. The attorney general, if he is to assume the responsibility, should assign fair and competent personnel to search out the facts in a careful, unbiased manner so that intelligent evaluations can be made. If corrections need to be made, so be it; and if the facts vindicate those in charge, this should be clearly stated also.
The state hospital is a valued institution in the Utah hospital and welfare program. It has won wide recognition for its programs of patient treatment and rehabilitation. It is therefore important that its future not become clouded in politics or prolonged hassling.
Under the circumstances, an investigation, accomplished with fairness and dispatch, can prove a healthy thing for the state and the institution.