Respected longtime surgeon at JPS retires

The surgeon described as "the rock of JPS" and a "pillar of the institution" packed up his office and retired Wednesday, after more than three decades of healing wounds and saving lives.

Dr. Charles "Chuck" Webber, 65, a critic in the Star-Telegram's series on the JPS Health Network, said he was not pressured to leave the hospital for his outspokenness. "The ones that knew about it were very supportive and there were no problems at all," Webber said.

Rather, he said he had long planned to step down after helping the hospital's trauma director gain a solid footing in the system. So JPS doctors and other staff members were only slightly surprised at Webber's departure.

Many lauded him for his leadership, compassion and devotion to a sometimes thankless job.

Webber was like "a surgical father to me and everybody else in the surgery department," said Dr. Fernando Garcia, a trauma surgeon.

A patient's ability to pay was never an issue with Webber, Garcia said.

"The only thing he ever cared about was that patients received quality care," he said.

Garcia said that he could call Webber at any time to ask his opinion and that Webber consulted on cases for free.

"He was a guiding force for improving care not just for surgical patients but all patients," Garcia said, adding that Webber often spoke about the importance of the surgeon's role in medicine.

"He would always tell us, 'When the patient comes to the surgeon and goes to sleep on the operating table, they're putting life and their future in your hands,'" Garcia said. "And nowhere is that trust and privilege greater in medicine than on the operating table."

Dr. Bernard Rubin, a JPS board member, said Webber has been "the face of JPS surgery department as long as I've been associated with the hospital district."

"I know for someone who has a lot of heart and soul, that he's been dedicated to JPS and the people of Tarrant County are appreciative of everything he has done," he said.

Several JPS employees said they turned to Webber for their own surgical procedures.

Dr. G. Sealy Massingill, president of the JPS medical staff, said he was among Webber's patients. "If it is Dr. Webber's last day as a JPS surgeon, it is a great loss to Tarrant County and this hospital," Massingill said.

Webber said he plans to work at a cattle ranch he bought 20 years ago. "I'm just going to take it easy," he said.

But leaving JPS was not an easy decision.

"It's one of the sadder days of my life," he said. "The people up there really do quality work and give quality care, and I've been a part of it for half of my adult life."

TIMELINE OF CECERO'S JPS CAREER

July 2001 - By a one-vote margin, David Cecero is hired as chief executive of JPS Health Network, effective July 30. His salary is set at $240,000, plus benefits. Cecero replaced a CEO who stepped down after criticism over lengthy delays in the emergency room and concern over patient care and other issues.

February 2002 - Cecero announces that JPS had signed with a Dallas company, EmCare, to take over management of the emergency department. A top goal, he said, was to reduce emergency-room waits from 5.7 hours to 4.5 hours within a year.

June 2002 - The hospital district approves $41 million in bonds for a JPS Health Center for Women and a new Tarrant County Public Health Center, as well as improvements to radiology and the hospital maternity ward.

November 2002 - Concerned that new patients had to wait two to five months to see a doctor, Cecero says new patients should be able to get appointments within 30 days.

April 2003 - Amid a contract dispute with North Texas Affiliated Medical Group (NTAMG), JPS forms its own doctors organization, the JPS Physicians Group.

June 2003 - After nonbinding arbitration, JPS reaches an agreement with NTAMG but switches management of anesthesiology to a Florida doctors' group.

January 2004 - JPS says it will begin providing subsidized nonemergency care to undocumented immigrants, in light of legislation that administrators said mandated the move.

February 2004 - Cecero leads an initiative to reorganize the JPS work force, a move that will cut about 80 jobs.

March 2004 - JPS opens an urgent-care center near Alliance Airport, where an estimated 70 percent of the population is insured. Later, JPS converts the facility to an outpatient clinic primarily for low-income patients.

August 2004 -- JPS reverses course, banning illegal immigrants from Connection, its program for low-income patients.

August 2004 - JPS announces plans for a five-story patient tower at a cost of about $48 million to build and $17 million to equip.

October 2004 - JPS raises copayments for clinic doctor visits, diagnostic imaging, lab testing and other services. Copayments are no longer based on income. Cecero said the increase sends a message to patients that they must contribute to their own healthcare.

November 2004 - JPS Health Network agrees to acquire a shuttered 30-bed hospital in southeast Arlington for $14.7 million. Cecero says the plan is to improve access for all patients, but other documents show the plan is to target insured patients.

January-October 2005 - After bitter contract negotiations, JPS replaces the North Texas Affiliated Medical Group. JPS strikes a deal with the University of North Texas Health Science Center to provide physicians for three medical departments and its clinics. Other areas will be covered by physicians who work for the JPS Physicians Group, created by administrators.

October 2005 - A Star-Telegram investigation finds that JPS administrators overlooked signs of a crisis in medical service to Tarrant County jail inmates. JPS employees worked with broken equipment and outdated supplies, and crucial positions were left unfilled.

October 2005 - JPS reduces copayments for some lab work, X-rays and mammograms.

December 2005 - The Tarrant County Medical Society, in an open letter to Cecero, says that JPS is failing in its mission to serve the poor.

January 2006 - The county approves the network's sale of $30 million in certificates of obligation to help pay for the new patient tower and a parking garage, with the project now estimated to cost $89.5 million.

April 2006 - JPS says it would simplify applications for the Connection program.

2007 - JPS contracts with a Houston consulting company, InSight Advantage, for a study of hospital and clinic operations. The contract is valued at more than $650,000, plus expenses. The study points out numerous deficiencies, long wait times and patient-care issues.

March 2007 - A survey of JPS physicians gives the hospital poor marks for quality of care and leadership. Most wouldn't recommend the hospital to patients.

March 2008 - JPS dedicates the new 108-bed patient tower, built at a cost of about $93 million. The tower is expected to open in May.