What’s the real deal?

Perhaps someone is conducting a bona fide study into the feasibility of a partnership between Thibodaux Regional Medical Center and Lady of the Sea General Hospital. It’s certainly in the realm of possibility.

But prior to a meeting during which it was to be discussed, every one involved was either ignorant or silent.

Lafourche Parish Councilman Jerry LaFont, of Cut Off, introduced a resolution for Tuesday’s regular meeting agenda that would request Lady of the Sea to postpone hiring a CEO until the conclusion of a “feasibility study” regarding such a partnership.

Lady of the Sea’s CEO Don Werner said he was blindsided. Thibodaux Regional Medical Center officials declined to comment, for understandable reasons. LaFont, for reasons less understandable, said he wasn’t speaking until the meeting.

He blew the horn for a possible partnership, then withheld his knowledge until the meeting, lest he show his hand and give the people of his district an indication of what is actually going on.

Instead of educating officials about this plan of his, LaFont ambushed them, using his position as a councilman to try to affect circumstances beyond his purview.

It is self-serving behavior that fits in with the current council, however: No matter if a vote is taken or a measure passed, the agenda is a public tablet on which to inscribe irrelevant messages of shame. Exhibit A: the Charlotte Randolph Resignation Resolution, which amounted to no more than a show of theater.

For all of the positivity that could come from a partnership between two of Lafourche Parish’s three hospitals, this current effort has none. Secrecy calls into question motivation and has zapped the life out of a measure that could deliver a needed increase to health-care services offered in south Lafourche.

From what we know, it’s a one-sided study that has intentionally forsaken a major stakeholder. Or, due to the lack of confirmation LaFont offered, there’s the possibility it’s a phantom study drummed up to score political points. At best, LaFont intended to announce a study with the resolution, but even then he didn’t solicit input from Lady of the Sea, the hospital he is supposed to represent.

Whatever his rationale may be, we don’t know. He won’t explain unless it’s on his terms, in a controlled environment in the council chambers, behind a microphone and before a television camera, from a seat in which he can say anything he wants.

Let’s hope there’s a little more sunshine on the stitching of an actual agreement between the two hospitals, if there is a mutual benefit to be found. And a little less involvement from a councilman who just wants a win.