Bingham Memorial Hospital responds to CEO resignation, lawsuit

Louis Kraml, chief executive officer of Bingham Memorial Hospital for more than 15 years, has resigned.

This comes after Local News 8 broke the story that under Kraml’s administration, the hospital filed a lawsuit against three of its board members.

The hospital was granted dismissal of the suit, which claimed three board members served after their terms expired.

The lawsuit also said that board member Gordon Arave borrowed more than $400,000 from the hospital and has yet to pay it back.

Bingham Memorial Hospital media relations officer Mark Baker could not tell Local News 8 why Kraml resigned. Baker says the terms of his resignation are confidential.

Kraml became the CEO back in 1999.

During his time as the CEO, the Idaho attorney general questioned his integrity as a hospital administrator.

Kraml was accused of improperly recording phone conversations of a BMH doctor and his staff.

In 2013, his charges were dropped from felony wiretapping to second degree misdemeanor stalking.

Kraml entered an alford plea — not an admission of guilt — served 100 hours of community service and paid a $1,000 fine.

There was also an investigation by the attorney general’s office into allegations of misusing hospital credit cards.

Despite multiple investigations and allegations against him, Kraml did not resign until Thursday night.

“Why did he resign?” asked reporter Chelsea Brentzel.

“I don’t even know. The nature of his resignation agreement is confidential and I can say that the decision that was made by Mr. Kraml and the agreement that was made between the board was not made in haste,” said Baker.

Baker said the CEO’s resignation is not a surprise.

“It’s been something that they’ve been discussing for some time. The board has taken a lot of consideration as has Mr. Kraml in this decision,” Baker said.

Bingham Memorial Hospital, Inc. filed a complaint in court questioning the actions of its own hospital board.

In the complaint, BMH Inc. and Kraml were seeking a declaration from the court keeping three members of the board from attending or voting at any further hospital board meetings.

The suit names current Board Chair Alice Cannon, Gordon Arave and Joe Cannon. It alleges the three met without consent or knowledge of other directors of the hospital board. According to the suit, the board members took action to limit the authority of the CEO.

“We find out about this lawsuit and then he resigns that night. So that’s just ironic?” asked Brentzel.

“There’s absolutely no connection between the nature of the lawsuit and his resignation,” Baker responded.

The lawsuit was duly dismissed after Kraml’s resignation.

“Speaks to the content of that lawsuit and the efficacy of it,” said Baker.

Local News 8 asked what administrators were doing to keep board members from breaking bylaws.

“The board took action last night to replace two board members. So we had two board members retire. The other two board members who are over their term limits will be replaced in the near future,” Baker said.

Baker told Local News 8 that Idaho and case law state that in the event the term of a board members serving at nonprofit hospitals expires they can stay in their position and operate until a replacement is found.

The hospital’s CFO Jeff Daniels is now serving as interim CEO.

Gordon Arave and Wallace Driscoll, retired at Thursday’s board meeting.

The board voted for Gary Baumgartner and Layne VanOrden to serve on the board Thursday night as well.

Local News 8 reached out to Gary Cooper, the attorney representing Kraml. The firm has no comment at this time.