UPMC is not a true friend to local citizens

Somebody has to let UPMC Health System know that it does not have the right to create a health-care monopoly and then withdraw its services to a community in the middle of winter.

Recently Allegheny County Council had its chance to stand up to UPMC by not approving its request to refinance more than $1 billion in bonds, but the council chickened out ("County Approves $1 Billion in Bonds for UPMC," Dec. 16). It essentially admitted that it has no power as a voice for the citizens whom the council is supposed to represent.

Council Vice President Charles Martoni explained that the county cannot risk spoiling its friendship with UPMC.

I ask you, Dr. Martoni, how do you define friendship? Do your friends use you for everything you're worth and give back only when it's in their best interest? Do your friends say, "I hope the best for you, but I have to abandon you now because I have to make more money"?

In Aristotle's "Rhetoric" he says, "Whenever one friend acts (and desires to act) for his friend's sake, this is definitive of genuine friendship."

UPMC is no friend to Braddock -- it has proved that -- in fact UPMC CEO Jeffrey Romoff and his board are only friends with profit.

JOSHUA ZELESNICK
Wilkinsburg
The writer is a member of Save Our Community Hospitals (savebraddock.org).