The Porter Medical Center Board of Directors has launched an investigation after President Seleem Choudhury was found plagiarizing weekly emails to his staff.
Choudhury’s emails every Friday focus on inspirational and uplifting messages.
Choudhury, who became president of the 45-bed critical access hospital in June, has copied others’ work at least seven times since he started writing weekly emails on June 7, according to copies of Choudhury’s internal emails obtained by VTDigger.
About half of the emails he’s sent have included information that was copied in part from various blogs without attribution, according to the VTDigger review.
Choudhury took over the top post from President Fred Kniffin and has continued Kniffin’s tradition of sending weekly staff messages.
In a statement, the chair of the hospital board of directors said an investigation has been launched to help determine what action the board should take.
“The Board believes that our leaders should communicate openly and honestly with all of our stakeholders,” Porter Medical Chair Sivan Cotel in a statement. “As a result, with Seleem’s full cooperation, we are investigating so that we can take the action that is appropriate in light of the investigation’s findings.”
Multiple phone call and email attempts to reach Choudhury were not returned.
Choudhury admitted he plagiarized one of his emails in his recent Sept. 13 message.
“Last week, I made a mistake using someone else (sic) words and not being more open about my anxiety,” Choudhury wrote on Sept. 13, adding, “So, my message this week is that I acknowledge that mistake and will strive to do better!”
Most of the email from the week before, Sept. 6, was copied without attribution from a 2015 blog post about anxiety from a company called Interstates. In that email, Choudhury copied verbatim the following statement:
“When I operate from a fear-based perspective, my anxiety increases and my productivity, energy and fun drop dramatically. The reason for this is that I spend all my time thinking about all the different things that could go wrong (before they do) and then I procrastinate. It is a vicious cycle.”
Choudhury later explained he copied the information because he was anxious about the launch of a new health record system within the UVM Health Network and he took the “easy option.”
“It would have been more powerful (and candid) to use my own experiences, nervousness (and occasional sweaty palms); and it also would better illustrate what it means to be a leader and a role model,” Choudhury wrote on Sept. 13.
However, Choudhury has not acknowledged to staff he plagiarized six other emails. The only other mistake he’s admitted was getting the last name of a colleague wrong. In apologizing for that error Aug. 16, when he talks about the power of admitting mistakes, he appears to have copied a message from a Scientific American blog post called “Health Care Professionals Make Mistakes, and That’s Okay.”
“In the medical world, the saying ‘to err is human,’ is associated with a well-known report that emphasizes that errors in health care are more often due to systemic, rather than individual, failings,” Choudhury wrote in his email to staff, without sourcing the blog.
In the review by VTDigger, Choudhury has copied sentences without credit; other times he’s copied multiple paragraphs from other sources without attribution.
A portion of Choudhury’s Aug. 2 email about “success” was taken from a blog post by Mike Robbins, an author and speaker in California. Choudhury copied the introductory sentences in his email before explaining setbacks.
“How do you feel when things go well for you?” Choudhury wrote, copying Robbins. “If you’re anything like me, you may have some mixed feelings about it, as odd as that seems.”
In a phone interview, Robbins called it “weird” that Choudhury used his blog without attribution.
“It would have been more integrous to say, ‘as Mike Robbins said,’” said Robbins. But Robbins said he wasn’t offended Choudhury used his work to inspire others.
Some of Choudhury’s emails have copied definitions and explanations about health care. Sometimes Choudhury has passed off others’ experiences as his own.
In Choudhury’s first email on June 7, he explained he learned from life experiences that connecting with others is “important,” but part of his email was taken from Wisconsin Relationship Education project blog.
“Connections to others satisfy a basic human need for us to be close to and supported by others,” Choudhury wrote. “We are happier, healthier, and even live longer when we have strong close relationships in our lives.”
The first sentence of Choudhury’s July 12 email was taken verbatim from an article in The American Journal of Managed Care.
“Moving the healthcare system from taking care of individual patients to taking care of populations demands a series of shifts,” Choudhury copied from the journal.
Choudhury’s July 19 message about wait times takes sentences whole cloth from a Qminder blog.
“Every aspect of patient experience — from confidence in the care provider to perceived service quality — correlates negatively with longer wait times,” Choudhury copied. “Worse still, waiting affects our patients’ health as well. Long wait time can lead to adverse health effects such as stress, anxiety, or pain.”
A portion of Choudhury’s Aug. 30 message about finding a purpose has a paragraph that is exactly the same as one in a 2010 Psychology Today article, “The Importance of Having a Mission.”
“We’re all meaning-seeking creatures, rousing ourselves up out of bed on different days for different reasons—one day to pass a test, the next to help a troubled friend, the next to run errands—but always motivated to participate in each day by some kind of purpose,” Choudhury wrote to staff, the same as the article.
Choudhury has not emailed his staff since admitting to plagiarism, according to a Porter staff member.
Choudhury began his career as nurse with the National Health Service in England. He holds a doctorate of nursing practice from the University of Vermont and an MBA degree from the University of Phoenix. His 30-year career in health care includes clinical and administrative roles in various organizations including Ronald Reagan Memorial Hospital (UCLA), University of Virginia Medical Center, and Parker Adventist Hospital.
Prior to joining Porter, Choudhury was vice president of professional services at Northeastern Vermont Regional Hospital for five years. He was also deputy chief nurse at Denver Health for three years.
He has also served as an adjunct faculty member at the University of Vermont teaching both nursing and non-nursing students leadership, management theory and management of complex organizations and other health care related topics.
