One can’t help but be amused that the University of Louisville has filed a lawsuit against Dr. Peter Hasselbacher, who had sought access to UofL records pertaining to the NCAA investigation into the basketball program.

Peter Hasselbacher, MD, during a recent Board of Trustees meeting.
Peter Hasselbacher during a recent UofL Board of Trustees meeting.

The lawsuit against Hasselbacher follows the release of an opinion from State Attorney General Andrew Beshear that UofL violated state open records requirements. This in response to Hasselbacher’s request for documents leading to former President Jim Ramsey’s decision to self-impose a one-year ban on NCAA participation.

UofL denied the request indicating that no documents were available, with most of the information coming in verbal reports from Chuck Smrt, a former NCAA enforcement official employed to investigate the case.

A former faculty member at the UofL School of Medicine, Hasselbacher has a history of criticizing the University. He describes himself as a physician for 30 years and the president of the Kentucky Health Policy Institute, which seems to be primarily a blog for his views.

A while back Hasselbacher appeared to favor a Norton Healthcare-University of Kentucky alliance to replace a long-standing arrangement between Norton and UofL for pediatric care at Children’s Hospital. Negotiations between Norton and UK apparently fell through, sparing UofL the indignity of an unprecedented takeover.

He also was among those calling for Jim Ramsey’s resignation as UofL president, ignoring the University’s incredible growth over the past decade or so while claiming Ramsey was “an embattled president who can no longer lead and there is no one else left to take the fall for him.”

Courier-Journal columnist Tim Sullivan on Sunday picked up a quote from the blog in which Hasselbacher writes that it would be a travesty “not to know who put up the money to pay for the entertainment of prospective athletes in the athletic dorm.”

Presumably that’s what the NCAA investigation is all about. But the organization’s hands may be tied unless Andre McGee decides to cooperate with investigators. He hasn’t, and that information would not have been available to Jim Ramsey when he announced the self-imposed ban.

Hasselbacher also points out on his blog “that the UofL Board of Trustees has little or no oversight responsibility for the spending budget of the UofL Athletic Association.”

Considering the suspected motivations of some of the individuals on the UofL Board of Trustees, that may be a positive thing. Better that these issues are managed by individuals with the best interests of the university at heart.

Hasselbacher’s constant attacks on the University of Louisville are not consistent with his professed interest in transparency, which seems to be convenient crutch for many with axes to grind these days.

Share this

By Charlie Springer

Charlie Springer is a former Louisville editor and sportswriter, a public affairs consultant, a UofL grad and longtime fan.

3 thoughts on “UofL files lawsuit against health care blogger”

Comments are closed.