Blessed are the peacemakers

Tom Kirkendall has a post up that starts with a link to and quotes from some very good reporting by the Houston Chronicle's Todd Ackerman. And then — as the best bloggers do — Tom adds considerable value with further links, facts, and perspective. The subject is the apparent settlement of one of the most scary and unproductive spats imaginable in Houston: a nasty schism (bordering-on-bloodbath) among key institutional players at the Texas Medical Center, including Baylor College of Medicine, The Methodist Hospital, and St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital.

My ex trained at Baylor (one of two major medical schools at the TMC, and unaffiliated with Waco's Baylor University for many decades), and she then taught in the basic sciences (pre-clinical) curriculum there for several years, so I've had a more than casual interest in reading about this spat as it's developed. (Indeed, when I was all wired up in The Methodist's ER in July, I had a way more than casual interest in it!) And in the past, some of the rivalries and internal competition within the Medical Center — most famously, the DeBakey-Cooley/Baylor-UT feuds — have ended up motivating all parties to improve themselves. But as it's unfolded and grown, this dispute has become the kind of slow-motion train wreck that any knowledgeable Houston-booster just absolutely hated to watch. It did not look to me like any of the institutions involved were likely to come out better in the end, and all of them seemed to be at serious risk.

Apparently the catalyst for the compromise has been Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott. I'm impressed and grateful, but entirely unsurprised. I've been distantly acquainted with AG Abbott since he was in private practice, and I also had the pleasure to appear before him when he was a state trial judge. He's a smart, energetic guy. I suspect that just as when he was a trial judge, his role as AG gave him the credibility and tools with which he could aggressively lead the parties to water and make them stay put a while, even if he couldn't legally force them to drink. Using those tools creatively and patiently is an art, not a science. And we're talking here about egos that (with considerable justification) match or exceed those found on Wall Street, Capitol Hill, or Turtle Bay — nobody fights like doctors can fight when they get their dander up.

Bravo, Mr. Attorney General! You've rendered a genuine and indisputable public service to the City of Houston and the State of Texas.