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CDC Accused of Information Stone-Walling

By Dr. David Edward Marcinko; MBA, CMP™

Julie Louise Gerberding; MD, MPH [born August 22, 1955, Estelline, South Dakota] is an infectious disease expert who was the former Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], and administrator for the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry [ATSDR] here in Atlanta, Georgia.

Allegedly never held in much esteem by the local medical community and her employees, it is with some insider schadenfreude that she announced her resignation – from a leadership position that began in 2002 – effective January 20, 2009.

Controversial Stewardship

Soon after her arrival at the CDC, Gerberding began an overhaul of the agency’s organizational structure. Since then, several senior scientists either left or announced plans to do so. She is regarded as having been a highly controversial director, whose stewardship was inculcated in several noxious healthcare incidents, such as:

• Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism
• Hurricane Karina
• Autism Vaccine Controversy
• AIDS and Retroviruses
• Tuberculosis [MDR-TB and XDR-TB]

Freedom of Information Act

The FOIA presumes that federal records belong to citizens and puts the onus on government to justify why they should be blinded; with proprietary trade-secrets, medical privacy issues or national security as reasonable exemptions. The law is intended to allow citizens to hold government accountable.

CDC Obfuscation

However, it is because of alleged FOIA obfuscations that we believe Gerberding’s resignation, at the Obama Administration’s request, was a correct one.

For example, although the law requires a response within 20 days, a breaking local report in the Atlanta-Journal-Constitution newspaper [February 1, 2009: by Alison Young, CDC Can be Slow to Release Documentation] documents that information requests have been pending for more than 12 months, with some more than two years.    

Environmental Scanning

Perhaps, the most noxious initiative, under Gerberding’s tenure however, was the so-called policy on “environment-scanning” or, monitoring the news-media, internet space, blogs and other venues to identify “emerging threats to the agencies’ reputation.”   

Assessment

The acting CDC director is non-physician Richard Besser.

Additional Information Sources:

• www.USDOJ.gov/oip/04_7.html
• http://tinyurl.com/bigtvo
• http://tinyurl.com/b7qc6q
• www.cdc.gov/maso/pdf/OECFs.pdf

NOTE: If you have a tip or experience regarding governmental healthcare, economics or financial information stonewalling, we want to hear from you.

Conclusion

And so, your thoughts and comments on this Medical Executive-Post are appreciated. Are you saddened or delighted to see the departure of Dr. Julie Gerberding from the CDC?

Speaker: If you need a moderator or speaker for an upcoming event, Dr. David E. Marcinko; MBA – Publisher-in-Chief of the Executive-Post – is available for seminar or speaking engagements. Contact: MarcinkoAdvisors@msn.com  or Bio: www.stpub.com/pubs/authors/MARCINKO.htm

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Filed under: Breaking News, Ethics, Health Economics, Health Law & Policy, Op-Editorials, Quality Initiatives | Tagged: Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry, ATSDR, autism, CDC, CDC environment-scanning, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, FOIA, Julie Louise Gerberding; CDC, katrina, MDR-TB, TB, Tuberculosis, XDR-TB | 2 Comments »