Doctors protest CEO at Knapp Medical Center

Several dozen doctors, nurses, employees and community supporters gathered at Knapp Medical Center this week to rally against embattled CEO James Summersett. "CEO's got to go," the crowd chanted, waving signs that read "Summersett we regret" and bearing red shirts proclaiming "Save Our Hospital." The 226-bed nonprofit hospital at 1401 E. Eighth St. opened in Weslaco in 1962 and employs about 1,000 people. Summersett took leadership of it in 2005, rubbing some the wrong way since then. "The final straw was the emergency room doctors had their contracts terminated," said Dr. Sandra Esquivel, a surgeon at Knapp. "It matters who our emergency room doctors are." Esquivel said a communication problem between the hospital and the group contracted to provide emergency services to the hospital had caused the contract to not be renewed.