Dr. Burroughs remains silent as hospital execs abuse power

Dr. Fleming Burroughs and the Sumter Regional Hospital’s Management Board at their September 2008 meeting.

Dr. Fleming Burroughs has served the Sumter County community for 25 years. He has served more than a decade on the hospital's management board. He has been fed by predominantly Black patients who have afforded him a fairly well off lifestyle. “As a hospital board member, one would expect an African American physician to fight for the very hospital that cares for primarily Black patients and it is a major source of his income,” said NAACP past president John Marshall. Our reporters went to the September Sumter Regional Hospital management board meeting and observed Dr. Burroughs in action. The first thing we noticed that he was so jolly, playful, childlike, and even silly. In a time when our community could end up with no hospital, this grown physician is shuffling and grinning in the presence of his fellow White board members. We have been told that Phoebe Putney Hospital in Albany, GA might lease our hospital but the negotiations are breaking down. We have a time limit that is soon to run out for support from FEMA regarding the temporary hospital. So, what is there to laugh about in such perilous times in our community. We have wondered how is it that Dr. Burroughs can work for a salary on the Rehab Unit of the hospital and serve on the management board at the same time. We tried to reach Dr. Burroughs but he refused to return our call after numerous attempts. Serving on both entities appears to be a conflict of interest. Our investigators are trying to ascertain whether the check from the Rehab Unit is the reason for Dr. Burroughs' inability to challenge the abuses by the hospital administration. Our local NAACP has been reporting on the racial discrimination, the abuses of power, the exorbitant salaries, and the lack of accountability by the hospital's administrators. The CEO is David Seagraves who came into the position as administrator after serving several years as a finance vice president. He had no hospital administration experience and he recently obtained some type of Masters Degree. Dr. Burroughs has served on the board and has not made any known public outcry while David Seagraves makes over $300,000 a year in salary. He has a vice president who makes around $250,000 annually. Neither man has the experience or the credentials to run a hospital especially at those salary levels according to comparisons with other administrator's salaries at similar hospitals. Our newspaper is not the only one concerned about the problems at Sumter Regional, a shocking editorial by the Americus Times Recorder questioned the hospital management board for giving Seagraves and Steve Machen each a 16 percent pay raise. While employees are rumored to be fired due to financial difficulties. They note that there are rumors that the hospital is already sold to Phoebe Putney Hospital in Albany, GA. The Recorder even asked what has happened to the insurance money following the tornado that destroyed the hospital in 2007. Where is the foundation money and has it been invested or spent? We are pleased to see the Times Recorder finally demonstrating responsibility as the local daily newspaper of this community. They said the citizens look to their newspaper for leadership but it has never challenged the wrongdoings of the hospital since we have been observing. We decided to focus on Dr. Burroughs because he has benefitted from the patronage of patients who have on several occasions asked our newspaper what is he doing to help his people. Our investigation is unable to document anything that he has done publicly on behalf of Black people. It would have been easier if Dr. Burroughs would have given us an interview so that we can hear his side of the discussion.