Irene Cumming’s decision to resign as president and chief executive officer of Kansas University Hospital is not a big surprise, considering the abuse she absorbed from KU Medical Center Executive Vice Chancellor Barbara Atkinson, KU Chancellor Robert Hemenway and Gov. Kathleen Sebelius.

Cumming became CEO of the hospital in 1996 after serving as its chief financial officer since 1994. The hospital was in bad shape in terms of the number and excellence of its doctors, staff and patients. Staff morale was very low, and its perceived excellence in the minds of greater Kansas City residents was suffering.

Today, it is the best hospital in Kansas City! Its patient load is growing each year, it enjoys a solid financial base and it provides great support for the KU medical school both in the quality of training it provides to residents and in the dollars it provides to the school. Cumming helped build a true winner and model for other hospitals, particularly those with close historical ties to a medical school.

However, money and egos entered the picture, and medical school administrators thought they were entitled to more money from the hospital.

A year or so ago, a couple of Kansas City business and philanthropic leaders (Irv Hockaday and Bill Hall), several St. Luke’s Hospital boosters, Hemenway and Atkinson, with the encouragement of several people associated or identified with the Stowers Institute, devised a plan to force an affiliation between the KU Medical Center and St. Luke’s. The planning was done in secrecy, and Cumming and the KU Hospital were deliberately left out of the discussions.

Although the giveaway was supposed to be signed and sealed before the current session of the Kansas Legislature, the timeline was delayed after the plan became public. Then, it was supposed to be approved in early February. However, because of concerns voiced by the public, legislators, KU Hospital and medical school staff members, the details of an affiliation agreement are yet to be worked out. There has been a lot of talk about “concepts,” but legislators and the Kansas Board of Regents have not been shown a specific plan.

When Cumming learned of the plan to provide medical residents for St. Luke’s, the KU Hospital offered $400 million to the medical school over a 10-year period to maintain a close working relationship between the two KU entities.

Atkinson turned down the offer in favor of a very soft, iffy offer of around $150 million from some Kansas City leaders, saying there were too many strings attached to the KU Hospital offer. As it is, the plan calls for $150 million to be handed over to the Kansas City Community Foundation or the Kansas City Life Sciences group, which will decide who gets what.

Had Cumming remained, she and her associates could have built the hospital into a true center of excellence. However, many pressures combined to lead to her departure: from the Kansas City Civic Council, Hemenway and Atkinson; the negativity that was building; a phony March 31 deadline suggested by the Stowers Institute; and the phony threat that if KU didn’t cooperate, St. Luke’s and Stowers would turn to Washington University in St. Louis for a similar affiliation.

An indication of how bitter Hemenway, Atkinson and new Provost Richard Lariviere are in their anger and dislike of Cumming was exposed Monday in a vote of the hospital board on a severance package for Cumming. The vote was 8-3 in favor of the package, with Hemenway, Atkinson and Lariviere opposed.

Hemenway and Atkinson have been eager to get rid of Cumming for some time. Who her replacement will be is a major question. Will they decide to hire a “yes” person who will agree with everything Hemenway, Atkinson, St. Luke’s, Hall and Hockaday want? Will Sebelius load the hospital board with members who will follow the wishes of Hemenway and Atkinson, or will the hospital have a president who is strong, independent and committed to doing what is best for the hospital, the medical school and the state of Kansas?

Many involved in the medical school, hospital and St. Luke’s mess think it’s time for a housecleaning on both sides of 39th Street and Rainbow Boulevard and maybe in Lawrence.

They predict that many doctors will seriously consider leaving the hospital and medical school, that several members may resign from the hospital board and that other dominoes may fall. How will state legislators view the Cumming resignation, and will they demand to see any suggested affiliation agreement before it is finalized?

Cumming’s resignation is a major loss. She deserves the thanks and appreciation of Kansans for the superior job she has done in rebuilding the KU Hospital. It was weak and struggling when she took over, and she is leaving it as a strong and highly respected hospital. She is quick to say she had a highly talented staff – an “absolutely outstanding senior team” – and she is hopeful someone from within this team will be selected as her successor.

Unfortunately, the selection more likely will be based on whom Hemenway and Atkinson will be most comfortable with, not necessarily on who would make the best hospital president and CEO.