Beth Israel boss fined

Beth Israel boss fined Beth Israel chief Paul Levy, cited over his personal relationship with a former subordinate, failed to mention the scandal at a conference of medical professionals, Window curtain instead blaming media attention on a union flap.

The morning after a Herald reporter specifically quizzed him about the relationship as he headed to a keynote speech on hospital transparency, Levy insisted he did not know why the reporter was seeking his comment.

“Our hospital is subject to what they call a corporate campaign by Service Employees International Union,” an apologetic Levy told the crowd at the Columbus, Ohio, conference as he began his speech, “Why Transparency is Important to Patient Safety.”

“And one of the things they like to do is show up at events where I am and try to disrupt those events with irrelevant questions or demonstrations and the like,” he continued, according to an audiotape of Friday’s closed-door speech.

Levy then said that a Boston newspaper reporter spoke to him at Logan International Airport and implied “there would be something going on today that would be newsworthy to people in Boston.” Window curtain

“And I only have to assume it has something to do with that,” he added. “But I don’t know what it is or if it is.”

Yesterday, the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center board fined Levy $50,000 for “a serious lapse in judgment” regarding his “personal relationship with a former employee,” which “created an improper appearance and became a distraction within the hospital.”

After a two-hour emergency board meeting - the third in a week - Chairman Stephen Kay released a statement outlining the fine and saying that Levy’s conduct will be a factor in deciding his next compensation package, which has reached $1 million a year over his eight-year tenure.

Christina Knowles, Window curtain the state director for the National Organization for Women, called the $50,000 fine “a slap on the wrist.”