Charles Longer

An Erlanger trustee did nothing wrong by questioning hospital employees during a tour of one of the hospital's campuses, hospital board Chairman Charles Longer said Monday.

"It was a pure, honest effort on the part of Russell (King) to ask some honest questions, in a very appropriate setting to ask those questions," Dr. Longer said after holding a Monday meeting with Mr. King and the hospital's CEO.

Mr. King and another trustee visited the Erlanger North campus in Red Bank in the spring, shortly after hospital officials' March announcement that the North campus no longer would accept inpatient admissions, which also resulted in layoffs.

"I think any discomfort or anxiety that was generated in employees was due just to the overall circumstances," Dr. Longer said.

Mr. King said Monday he has not been asked to tone down his questioning.

"I've tried to be judicious in my questions before, and I'll continue to do that," he said. "Information-gathering is an important part of being a trustee. They (Dr. Longer and Mr. Brexler) assured me they want me to do that as well."

A series of Oct. 6 e-mails between Dr. Longer, Mr. King and Erlanger CEO Jim Brexler, provided to the Chattanooga Times Free Press on Friday, said the three planned to meet Monday to discuss hospital employee complaints against Mr. King. In the e-mails, Mr. King said he would like to immediately address concerns that employees had felt "intimidated" by him.

Dr. Longer said he regretted his initial use of the term "intimidation," which has legal connotations that he said he did not intend.

No formal complaints were ever filed against Mr. King, said Mr. Brexler. He said he called the meeting to discuss his sense that, in an atmosphere of "heightened anxiety," hospital employees seemed worried that a visit from trustees signaled their jobs were in danger.

"This never was an issue of wrongdoing," Mr. Brexler said. "I think it's my responsibility to help the trustees know when in the process (their questioning) might be being misinterpreted ... so that they can know and be sensitized to that, and that's what this was always about."

Mr. King visited Erlanger North with then-trustee Aldous McCrory, an attorney who stepped down from the board in May for personal reasons. During the tour, led by Erlanger North's administrator, a number of employees approached the trustees, eager to share their thoughts and concerns about the campus, Mr. McCrory said Monday.

None of the employees seemed threatened by the trustees' presence, he said.

"It was just the opposite. They expressed appreciation for our visit," he said. "By the time we left, there must have been five or six people that had come to us and were sharing information with us ... They just felt like they were the forgotten hospital, and they really appreciated Russell and I taking the time to come and talk with them."