Letters on state budget, Donovan, surgical safety

State budget fix is obvious

To even a fifth-grader, the facts are simple: The elimination of state income taxes on about 330,000 business owners caused, to a large degree, the financial mess in which Kansas finds itself. Again, even a child knows that if something causes a problem, you get rid of it.

So obvious is the fix for our problem that my 7-year-old figured it out. “Just get rid of those tax cuts, and there is no money problem,” he said.

The larger problem is, of course, that neither the governor nor the GOP legislators who put this horrible law in place are big enough people to admit that it was a mistake and to rescind it.

If tax cuts for the wealthy created jobs, this entire country would be flooded with good jobs, as we have been trying it since the beginning of the George W. Bush administration. It does not work, people.

How re-elected?

It is amazing that we can accumulate so many back slappers in the Legislature. Gov. Sam Brownback says “jump,” and the Legislature asks, “How high?”

It would appear Brownback has gone out of his way to make life miserable in this state for everyone but a business owner. Doesn’t he realize that it wasn’t just business owners who elected him? And God knows how he got re-elected.

Common sense would dictate to any sensible person that if this budget plan and tax overhaul he initiated aren’t working, he should just put it back the way it was and try something else. Trying to fix the budget problem has just resulted in legislators beating around the bush and pointing fingers at one another, because nobody in Topeka wants businesspeople to pay their fair share.

It seems to me that Secretary of State Kris Kobach may have been right: There just may have been massive voter fraud. After all, Brownback and the rest of his cronies were re-elected. So I guess it’s our own fault (the people of Kansas), because we put them back in office, so we will suffer the consequences.

Do the math

While our brain trust in Topeka struggles with the dilemma of acting morally or obeying orders from its Americans for Prosperity/American Legislative Exchange Council/Koch puppeteers, a little simple math may be helpful.

The latest count shows about 330,000 businesses owners taking advantage of Gov. Sam Brownback and company’s income tax giveaway. If each of these companies paid $100 a month (about the cost of a Starbucks froufrou coffee per day), that would come to $396 million a year. Doesn’t this seem like a simple solution to a problem of their own creation, and not an unreasonable burden on businesses?

Give me a break. Quit punishing the poor and middle class for your failed experiment.

Voice of reason

During the debacle in Topeka, one person has stood out way above others as the voice of reason, experience, wisdom and integrity. Sen. Les Donovan, R-Wichita, has devoted many years to state government, many of them debating serious, partisan, ideological issues affecting the future of Kansas. Certainly at his age and years of service, he could have chosen to leave Capitol politics, but he continues to devote himself to making Kansas function and grow. Kudos to Donovan – and thank you.

Surgical safety

One year ago, local health care providers announced the universal acceptance of a common set of surgical time-out protocols to be implemented in operating rooms and ambulatory facilities citywide. The logic behind this announcement was simple: Developing a common time-out process used consistently wherever a surgery or procedure occurs will reduce the risk of errors and improve patient safety.

The announcement in 2014 coincided with National Time Out Day, an initiative to support implementing a time-out before any operation or surgical procedure. One year later, we proudly report that all hospitals and surgical facilities in Wichita are successfully using the time-out protocols, and there were no wrong-site surgeries and no surgical fires in the past year. Patient harm has been averted.

We cannot stop here on our pursuit to improve quality and safety. Patient safety requires daily vigilance from all involved in the care of patients. Wichita’s citywide surgical time-out checklist and universal protocols were designed to ensure that very vigilance occurs every day for every patient.

Wichita-Sedgwick County is an extraordinary place to practice medicine with a rich history of collaboration for the betterment of patients. This philosophy of cooperation guides our medical community as it continues to work together on new ideas and new processes for the benefit of our patients.

On this year’s National Time Out Day, we pause to thank the many physicians, nurses and others who have worked hard to improve surgical safety, and again commit ourselves to continued improvement and quality.

This story was originally published June 9, 2015 at 7:04 PM with the headline "Letters on state budget, Donovan, surgical safety."