A scandal rocked Middlebury's Porter Medical Center last month, leading to an investigation by the center's board of directors and the resignation of the hospital's president just months after he took on the job. But the scandal didn't involve money, mismanagement or other issues many might associate with such scandals — it was anonymous allegations about plagiarized emails that led to the resignation.
At issue are emails sent to Porter Medical Center staff by President and COO Seleem Choudhury, who took on the hospital's top job in June.
Anonymous tips flagged multiple instances of plagiarism within Choudhury's informal weekly emails. VTDigger reported that online plagiarism checkers found seven examples of plagiarism in Choudhury's weekly emails, pulling from websites associated with Psychology Today, Scientific American blogs and the American Journal of Managed Care.
Choudhury resigned Oct. 8, apologizing for the emails and stating he was "no longer the right person" to lead Porter.
Even the media coverage of the plagiarism allegations stirred controversy: the biweekly Addison County Independent noted it likely received the same anonymous tips as VTDigger, but the paper opted to not write a story because it deemed the issue "an internal matter for the board to handle with its new president," according to an op-ed by the paper's 20-year editor and publisher Angelo Lynn.
In that op-ed, Lynn called VTDigger's coverage "clickbait" and "gotcha journalism." However, the Addison County Independent did eventually follow up with its own coverage of the plagiarized email allegations.
John Flowers, senior reporter for the Addison County Independent, joins Vermont Edition to discuss Choudhury's resignation, the plagiarism allegations against Choudhury and how the hospital is continuing to pursue major projects like an electronic health records upgrade amid interim leadership.
Broadcast live on Wednesday, Nov. 6, 2019 at noon; rebroadcast at 7 p.m.
