Bob Likes Mary, But . . .

Sometimes the wrong thing happens.

This week what was wrong was the resignation of Dr. Mary Hibberd, Suffolk County Health Commissioner, under pressure from County Executive Robert J. Gaffney. Her resignation was accepted as soon as the word got out, even before she had sat down to write the obligatory letter. She will be gone by the end of June.

Dr. Hibberd became persona non grata with the County Executive after she resigned from a "blue ribbon panel" he had set up to assess how the county could deliver health care to the poor cost-effectively.

There apparently were other reasons, too, such as her reported unwillingness to follow Republican Party protocol in hiring. In addition, Mr. Gaffney accused the Commissioner of creating a "shortfall" of several millions of dollars in the Health Department by being "late" in applying for state aid. Dr. Hibberd flatly denied this accusation and promised a full response before she steps down.

In a letter of resignation from the blue ribbon panel on April 29, Dr. Hibberd told Mr. Gaffney she feared it might "wipe out or [further] weaken" the county's nursing home and clinics, including one at Southampton Hospital.

The latter clinic, the subject of a front-page story in The Star in January, had been in deteriorating condition for years. In 1994, she brought Mr. Gaffney to the Southampton clinic to see it for himself, but no improvements were made.

According to a county spokesman, "Bob likes Mary," but blames her "management" for fiscal problems in the Health Department. Mr. Gaffney noted "eroded confidence" between them.

Dr. Hibberd has been running the department since 1992. Colleagues there use superlatives to describe their admiration for her. And, the medical care at the Southampton clinic was reported to be excellent despite its physical condition.

One blue ribbon panel member who is sorry to see Dr. Hibberd go is John J. Ferry Jr., M.D., Southampton Hospital's president. "She truly has a public health focus, and cares desperately about everyone - employees and patients," he said this week.

It is possible to measure cost, said Dr. Ferry, who has seen his own institution turn a profit. But what he called "outcome data," or effectiveness, is hard to come by.

Dr. Hibberd's resignation is symbolic of a widespread malaise. It is unconscionable that one of the richest nations in the world should be mired in debate stemming from the incompatibility of tight money and good medicine. All of us in Suffolk County are the poorer for her going, the poor even more so.