KEY POINTS:
It is little wonder that Health Minister Pete Hodgson wants a few more days to decide the fate of Auckland's health board bosses. He has a lot to think about.
The Government is clearly uncomfortable that the region's health boards signed an ill-fated contract with Labtests despite the boards' knowing of Dr Tony Bierre's highly questionable involvement.
The High Court's heavy criticism of that decision cannot be politically ignored.
But as calls for accountability ring loud in Mr Hodgson's ears, he faces a dilemma.
If he moves to demonstrate he is holding health board bosses accountable by sacking all three of them, the upheaval could cause disruption in the health sector. In addition, Mr Hodgson is well aware that under the watch of Wayne Brown, the deficit at Auckland's health board has been reduced significantly.
The board's strong focus on cutting costs is exactly what the Government wants from it.
Throwing the book at the health board bosses could also carry a negative spin-off of discouraging good future candidates from entering public service.
It is for these reasons that Mr Hodgson may well be wishing that he could just keep all the people concerned and move on.
But to do so would leave the Government vulnerable to endless political attacks.
National is hammering its claim that accountability is not a strong point in the current Government.
That message is reinforced by the fact that no person was deemed accountable in Corrections after the deaths of Liam Ashley and Karl Kuchenbecker.
National has raised that point repeatedly as it demands that Mr Hodgson and Prime Minister Helen Clark make someone accountable when things go wrong.
One way to deal with the laboratory situation might be to have one symbolic head roll - Mr Brown does come in for more criticism in the High Court judgment than his colleagues.
If Mr Hodgson doesn't move against Auckland's health bosses then he can expect National to continue picking through the ugly High Court laboratory judgment in Parliament for months to come.
The "no accountability" tag could start to stick. Whichever way Mr Hodgson is leaning, time is running out for him to make up his mind.
