To the editor:

The loss of staff from Whidbey General Hospital that started as a minor bleed has developed into a major hemorrhage.

After the emergency department’s medical director and then manager were shown the door, now a great emergency department nurse has left and it looks like two more will be close on her heels. The operating room manager has given notice along with the post anesthesia care unit manager.

WGH’s heart and soul is either walking out or being thrown out the door.

If you look up the word “gutted” in the dictionary you’ll find one definition stating: “To destroy essential power or effectiveness.”

The hospital board of commissioners is allowing administration’s mismanagement to destroy this vital community institution.

As the slaughter continues, those living on Whidbey will be left with two entities — Whidbey’s gutted hospital and Whidbey’s gutless hospital commissioners. What we won’t have is Whidbey General Hospital.

TOM LEAHY

Freeland