4th El Paso Children’s Hospital board member resigns

A fourth board member has resigned from the El Paso Children’s Hospital board of directors.

A Children’s spokeswoman confirms Dr. John Guggedahl, who served as vice chair of the board has resigned. That makes four board members to resign in three days including attorney Sam legate, Judge Tom Spieczny and Chris Klaberg. Children’s Marketing Manager Georgina M. Panahi said they all resigned for personal reasons or because they no longer had time to serve. Kleberg accepted a job in San Antonio and has moved.

“Each of these Board Members submitted gracious letters of resignation and we appreciate their dedication, time and service to El Paso Children’s Hospital,” wrote Panahi.

Five board members remain, including chairwoman Rosemary Castillo. ABC-7 has tried to reach her by phone and at her office but has been repeatedly told she’s unavailable.

“As you see board members dropping off their board, to me that’s a sign that there wasn’t full agreement and that they still went ahead with it, even though there might have been a split board – that a handful that a small group of people made the decision to take us down this route and they’re not even talking to the public, they’re not even explaining themselves. It’s a travesty,” said County Judge Veronica Escobar in an interview on Thursday.

Both sides will probably have to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in attorney fees, said Escobar who is upset by Children’s decision to file for bankruptcy.

Legate was adamant that his departure was because the time commitment was growing, and not because he disagreed with the bankruptcy decision. ABC-7 asked Panahi how each board member voted on the bankruptcy decision but has not received a response.

“Children’s board members have refused public interviews. They’ve refused to answer questions and there’s a lot of them and that’s also part of the frustration. Considering the amount of taxpayer dollars that have been subsidizing El Paso Children’s, I think they should at least come forward and answer questions from the public but they’ve chosen not to,” said County Commissioner Vince Perez on Thursday.

The remaining Children’s board members include Dr. Sadhana Chheda, Mary Lou Camarena, Kristen Cox and Guillermo Ochoa.