I READ “Levy is fined $50,000 for lapses in judgment: Hospital board cites relationship’’ (Metro, May 4), about the CEO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Paul Levy. The problem that I have is that we still don’t know how the $50,000 compares to the severance package that the former employee who had a personal relationship with Levy was paid following her departure from the hospital.
Nonprofit hospitals can lose their tax-exempt status for giving away their assets to “insiders’’ or to others who receive money so as to constitute too much in the way of private benefit.
The Beth Israel Deaconess board has a fiduciary responsibility to see that this does not happen, so only a fine that is equal to or greater than the severance paid to this individual would make this public charity whole and not at risk for loss of its tax-exempt status under these circumstances.
Until we know the severance amount, the mystery surrounding the situation and the threat to Beth Israel Deaconess remains.
Dr. Paul A. Hattis
Newton Centre
The writer is associate director of the master’s in public health program at Tufts University Medical School. 
