Despite the claim by Lincoln County Healthcare boss Jim Donovan that the closing of the St. Andrews Emergency Room is a matter of “quality of care,” one of his top aides told a different tale last week.

Surprise. It seems it is all about the money, after all.

“The volume in that emergency department is not sufficient to sustain the expenses of that organization,” said Stacy Miller, a senior LCH vice president.

Her frank admission was delivered at last Wednesday’s meeting of the combined task force set up by elected boards of selectmen for Edgecomb, Boothbay, Boothbay Harbor and Southport.

“Our charge is to deliver healthcare services to this community for the most reasonable price that we can and we cannot do that with the current structure,” she said.

She also said the closing of the emergency room next April is a done deal. No chance to change the LCH board's decision.

Now Miller was very sincere and contrite when she said their community communication process was flawed.

That is not the only flaw in the process.

She also admitted St. Andrews Hospital is governed by a board of directors and Miles Memorial Hospital is governed by a board of directors. A board of directors also runs Lincoln County Health, the umbrella body that runs both hospitals.

And she admitted the same folks sit are on all three boards.

There are several doctors on the boards. Who do they work for? If you answered they are employed by the hospitals and Lincoln County Healthcare, you win the prize.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I believe these folks on the board of St. Andrews, Miles and Lincoln County Healthcare are good, well-meaning folks. I believe they did their best.

But there is a bit of a problem. The good book has a word for it. It is found in the Gospel of St. Matthew.

Depending on which version of the good book you have on the shelf, it says something like this: “No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.”

The 21st century English version is expressed in just three words: “conflict of interest.”

Which brings us back to the St. Andrews Board of Directors. Who were the good, well-meaning citizens who sit on the St. Andrews Hospital board representing when they voted to shutter the hospital emergency room and turn it into something else? Were they representing Miles or Lincoln County Healthcare?

Were the good doctors on the St. Andrews board representing their patients or were they voting to please the folks who sign their paychecks?

If this was a public body, we could have attended the meetings. We could also look up the meeting minutes, read the discussion, and see how each member voted. But, of course, Donovan and his boards made their decision in secret behind closed doors. 

So I guess we will never know the real story, for each time we ask the question, we get a different answer.