The special legislative committee formed to probe allegations of misconduct by hospital officials has decided to end its investigation. The committee met Friday for just the second time since it was convened in June. It was supposed to follow up on a whistleblower complaint by former GMH administrator Dr. Kozue Shimabukuro, who has since left island claiming harassment by management. Committee member Senator Mary Torres made the motion.
"In principle, my thought would be to just refer whatever you've been able to gather confidentially to authorities that would then have some interest in pursuing any wrongdoing by employees and the agency heads. Because I think that our role is very clear in terms of an investigative body what our parameters are. And the parameters that people were looking at were really outside of our scope," she said.
The committee was not able to hire a private investigator, and will forward what it has to the OPA and the AG's office. Committee Chairman Senator Dennis Rodriguez says they will also preserve copies for the next legislature to pursue an investigation if it so chooses.
