Brian Dietz is out as president and CEO of McDonough District Hospital in Macomb.
Hospital Board Chairperson Jere Greuel said Dietz signed a separation agreement and submitted his resignation on Tuesday, Feb. 20.
However, when reporters pressed for details after Tuesday evening’s board meeting -- such as how much Dietz will get -- Greuel declined to comment.
Greuel: I can’t say.
TSPR: This is a public body. He was a public employee. That information that should be public. The public should deserve to know.
Greuel: They should. But I’m not going to tell you.
As TSPR reported previously, Dietz was suspended with pay in late December after board members and community leaders received anonymous letters from hospital employees, who complained of a toxic work environment. They said Dietz’s leadership style was based on fear and intimidation.
On Tuesday night, Dr. Jill Brody said that women in particular were subjected a hostile work environment.
“There was a lot of intimidation. Comments that were not becoming. And just always feeling they were walking on eggshells in what they could do or say,” she said.
Brody said she sent a letter to the board in 2020 to complain about how Dietz treated Dr. Jerome Anderson. She said she never received a response and that Anderson was eventually shown the door even though he was loyal physician and “a great member of the hospital staff.”
Brody said the board allowed Dietz “to go on and on and on” until the anonymous letters came out. She said the letter writers had to remain anonymous or risk retaliation.
“He had an enemies list,” Brody said.
“He was the king. We were his subjects. He was unaccountable, and anyone under him had no ability to change the course.”
Dr. Mary Kathleen Lockard on Tuesday also addressed the working conditions.
“It was hard to stand up for what I believe in in a culture where anybody that speaks against the leader is pushed out of the way,” she said, adding that it was something she witnessed repeatedly.
Lockard and Brody each told the board Tuesday night that Dietz should be fired with cause and did not deserve a severance package.
Lockard said, “He went against the rules of behavior for the hospital, and I don’t think we should reward that.”
Bill Murdock will continue to serve as the hospital’s interim president and CEO. He previously served as MDH’s vice president and chief financial officer.
The hospital said a search will begin to name a permanent president and CEO, though details were not announced.
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