Again? NYT reporting Clinton may have been telling false tale of Ohio woman and her health insurance

[TeamJordan23]

NY Times casts doubt on tale of Ohio woman losing her baby and dying for lack of medical insurance.

Ohio Hospital Contests a Story Clinton Tells

Over the last five weeks, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York has featured in her campaign stump speeches the story of a health care horror: an uninsured pregnant woman who lost her baby and died herself after being denied care by an Ohio hospital because she could not come up with a $100 fee.

The woman, Trina Bachtel, did die last August, two weeks after her baby boy was stillborn at O’Bleness Memorial Hospital in Athens, Ohio. But hospital administrators said Friday that Ms. Bachtel was under the care of an obstetrics practice affiliated with the hospital, that she was never refused treatment and that she was, in fact, insured.

“We implore the Clinton campaign to immediately desist from repeating this story,” said Rick Castrop, chief executive officer of the O’Bleness Health System.

Linda M. Weiss, a spokeswoman for the not-for-profit hospital, said the Clinton campaign had never contacted the hospital to check the accuracy of the story, which Mrs. Clinton had first heard from a Meigs County, Ohio, sheriff’s deputy in late February.

A Clinton spokesman, Mo Elleithee, said candidates would frequently retell stories relayed to them, vetting them when possible. “In this case, we did try but were not able to fully vet it,” Mr. Elleithee said. “If the hospital claims it did not happen that way, we respect that.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/05/us/politics/05woman.html?ref=politics

Hospital denies Clinton’s story– often repeated on the stump– that woman was turned away because she could not afford $100 fee. Watch stump video video here: http://bravenewfilms.org/blog/34835-hillary-clinton-tells-false-health-care-horror-story

Story comes shortly after Clinton retracts claim about landing in Bosnia under sniper fire as first lady.

http://thepage.time.com/2008/04/04/12665/

[powergirl]

1. Why does she have to use un vetted stories?

There are so many examples of people getting screwed over by the health care system. A LOT OF REAL EXAMPLES. When she does this it makes the plight of uninsured Americans look like it's a lie. This does not help the people of America.

It's terribly cavalier for the Clinton campaign to say they "weren't able" to fully vet the story. What is wrong with these people??? The campaign is either sloppy or arrogant - I don't know which. But it is hurting us all.




:grr:

[izquierdista]

9. Micheal Moore used them all up?

She could have used any one of the examples given in 'Sicko'.

But that would align her with him, and triangulating from that position, it might seem that she was not properly aligned with insurance industry proposals for reform, which lobbyists will remind us come from real Americans too, so their opinion should be taken into account, along with the competing interest from the Cuban-American lobby, who would not want to see masses of people going to Cuba to get low cost health care and are an important voting block in a key swing state, blah, blah, blah, whatever.....

[Hepburn]

2. How amazing ~~ NOT~~ Hillary is lying....

...and using a dead baby and mother for her own aggrandizement.

:puke:

[BlueIdaho]

3. If this is true - I swear

These folks will lie when the truth will do them more good. Its really not that difficult to find a tragic story about healthcare in America - I dare say everyone on DU knows someone that's gotten the shaft by our current "System."

Is this really the kind of leadership we need in the White House? I don't think so.

[ORDem]

4. I just love the wording of the response from the HRC campaign (emphasis mine)

“If the hospital claims it did not happen that way, we respect that.”

These people are the most assinine, mendacious, mean-spirited folks on the planet (outside the goopers).

:eyes:

[C_U_L8R]

5. Unvetted story or yet another Clinton confabulation?

These stories don't just make themselves up on their own, y'know.

[sandnsea]

6. If you know you won't get care

because you don't have the money for the doctor's visit, because maybe your deductible isn't met, then you won't go to the doctor. It isn't technically the same as being refused care, but if you know you're going to be refused without the money so you don't go, it really is the same thing. I don't know what happened here, but this is worth more investigation.

And this is why people shouldn't be mandated to buy insurance. People will have less money to pay deductibles and co-pays, and still won't go to the doctor. We have to change insurance before we mandate it.

[stop the bleeding]

7. I'm not surprised anymore

not surprised at all -

LIAR!

:beer:

[IDemo]

8. At this point, I think calling her "Baghdad Hillary" may be appropriate

both for her support for the war and her propensity for twisting the facts.