Put money where Reagan’s name is

Re “UCLA seeks extra funds for hospitals,” Nov. 14

As one who retired several years ago from a three-decade career at UCLA’s world-renowned medical center (the Ronald Reagan Medical Center), I feel it might be all right to ask some basic questions:

* How much did the late president’s supporters agree to pay UCLA to have it named for him, when its estimated cost was “only” about $800 million?

* Now that the replacement hospital’s cost has skyrocketed to more than $1 billion, how much of the original dollar commitment for applying Reagan’s name to it has been fulfilled?

* Given the protracted construction delays for the replacement hospital, is there now time to reconsider a naming decision that was made without staff or public discussion?

RICHARD J. STECKEL MD

Santa Barbara

The writer is a professor emeritus of the UCLA School of Medicine.