Ohio Hospital Contests a Story Clinton Tells "...uninsured pregnant woman lost her baby and died..."

[WilliamPitt]

Ohio Hospital Contests a Story Clinton Tells
By DEBORAH SONTAG

Published: April 5, 2008

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.”

(snip)

As Deputy Holman understood it, Ms. Bachtel had died of complications from a stillbirth after being turned away by a local hospital for her failure to pay $100 upfront. “I mentioned this story to Senator Clinton, and she apparently took to it and liked it,” Deputy Holman said, “and one of her aides said she’d be using it at some rallies.” Indeed, saying that the story haunted her, Mrs. Clinton repeatedly offered it as a dire example of a broken health care system. At one March rally in Wyoming, for instance, she referred to Ms. Bachtel, a 35-year-old who managed a Pizza Hut, as a young, uninsured minimum-wage worker, saying, “It hurts me that in our country, as rich and good of a country as we are, this young woman and her baby died because she couldn’t come up with $100 to see the doctor.”

Mrs. Clinton does not name Ms. Bachtel or the hospital in her speeches. As she tells it, the woman was turned away twice by a local hospital when she was experiencing difficulty with her pregnancy. “The hospital said, ‘Well, you don’t have insurance.’ She said, ‘No, I don’t.’ They said, ‘Well, we can’t see you until you give $100.’ She said, ‘Where am I going to get $100?’

“The next time she came back to the hospital, she came in an ambulance,” Mrs. Clinton continued. “She was in distress. The doctors and the nurses worked on her and couldn’t save the baby.” Since Ms. Bachtel’s baby died at O’Bleness Memorial Hospital, the story implicitly and inaccurately accuses that hospital of turning her away, said Ms. Weiss, the spokeswoman for O’Bleness Memorial said. Instead, the O’Bleness health care system treated her, both at the hospital and at the affiliated River Rose Obstetrics and Gynecology practice, Ms. Weiss said.

The hospital would not provide details about the woman’s case, citing privacy concerns; she died two weeks after the stillbirth at a medical center in Columbus. “We reviewed the medical and patient account records of this patient,” said Mr. Castrop, the health system’s chief executive. Any implication that the system was “involved in denying care is definitely not true.”

More: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/05/us/politics/05woman.html?bl&ex=1207627200&en=68723c5e35a1af24&ei=5087%0A

[cali]

1. So what?

I just don't see this as a big deal. Yes, Clinton should have checked out the story, but her larger point is valid.

[H2O Man]

5. Timing is everything.

In and of itself, I think we would all agree that it is not significant. But the timing has to be appreciated.

As always, there are three groups in an election contest: {a} those who support you; {b} those who oppose you; and {c} the undecided.

The people in Group A and Group B are not going to have their thoughts on Senator Clinton influenced in any manner whatsoever by the issue at hand. It is, however, terrible timing for Clinton in terms of Group C.

It comes shortly after the Bosnia affair. It is being reported now, for about the second time in two weeks, that an important part of Senator Clinton's presentation is not true. Her staff has had to focus attention, for the second time, on an issue that distracts from Clinton's central message. And, no matter how people in Group A or B view the media, it will be getting play on network and cable news, and in the newspapers. Added to the Bosnia bit, it creates an image. So a person need not view the error as actually significant, to recognize that the larger story certainly is.

[roseBudd]

22. And it doesn't pass the smell test to anyone who has shown up uninsured to a hospital

Especially smelly is the put up $100 to be seen.

The Triage/intake interview is "what is wrong with you, fill this paperwork out and have a seat in the waiting room". I have many years of experience of showing up at an ER or community health center for everything from pink eye, raccoon bite/rabies shots, dislocated elbow and the process is, they take care of you, then send you a bill you either pay or don't pay. How agressively hospitals pursue payment depends on how high the bill is.

Her story sounds true to people who have insurance, not to people who have not and used ERs for care.

[roguevalley]

41. my niece is an admissions clerk at our hospital. they take anyone

and bill you later or eat it. they don't turn people away. this smells.

[roseBudd]

57. Nor do they harrass you at intake if you have unpaid bills

[Manifestor_of_Light]

76. I was ignored and not treated at an ER.

A few years ago, I was vomiting uncontrollably and dehydrated due to a sinus infection. I did not have money or insurance.

My boyfriend drove me there after a few hours of hell. I checked in and sat in a wheelchair and hurled forward, doubled over, barfing.

This was in a suburban private hospital. The ER was not busy and there were nurses standing around doing nothing.

I told my boyfriend to go hassle some nurses to get me some treatment. He hassled them and they just ignored him and ignored me.

After two or three hours of this shit, it became obvious that they didn't care whether or not I died. The other people in the waiting room were quite uncomfortable because I was barfing loudly and sounded like I was dying.

My friend helped me out the door and we got back in the car and went to another hospital, where I was taken care of promptly. I got a shot for pain, I got a shot to stop the vomiting, and a shot of antibiotics to cure the infection. This probably saved me from having a stroke due to my high blood pressure due to the dehydration and vomiting.

So don't make the blanket statement that ALL people who show up in an ER are taken care of.

People die in ERs waiting for treatment frequently enough that it makes the paper sometimes.

It's too bad that I couldn't sue the bastards for being shits and ignoring me.

[roseBudd]

81. Leaving before being seen does not prove you were ignored, triage is just that

and barfing is usually not fatal

[Coexist]

42. bingo - the issue at hand after snipergate is whether or not she is "genuine"

this tall tale does not help.

[formernaderite]

29. the problem is as a health care expert

you would think she of all people would KNOW, it is against federal law for a hospital to refuse emergency treatment. That's what I find really strange....MS Healthcare didn't know this???

[OzarkDem]

52. The issue wasn't emergency treatment

the problem was a lack of access to care during her pregnancy. It was lack of access to affordable care that led to a preventable situation.

[roseBudd]

58. That is not the way Hillary tells the story and we don't know if it was preventable since patient

privacy trumps the did Hillary or did they (patient's family) make untrue statements. Like yours, assuming you have not examined the deceased patient records, death certificate or autopsy.

[formernaderite]

60. I won't quibble with that...but it doesn't explain how she

didn't know that emergency treatment can't be denied. Anyway, we've since learned the woman actually had insurance...so Hillary was obviously given bad information. Still doesn't explain how she didn't understand federal law.

[TLM]

67. So you admit hillary lied?

Hilly did not claim this woman died because of poor pre-natal care.

Hillary said she and he baby died because she was turned away after not being able to pay 100 dollars due to being uninsured.

ALL of what Hillary said was a LIE... a total fabrication. Just like the sniper fire. Just like Ireland.

She is a liar... she lies to make herself look better because apparently she's aware that the truth doesn't make her look appealing to voters at all. That's the downside of her fence sitting triangulation style of politics.

The woman was insured.
The woman got the care she needed.
The woman's infant was still born two weeks before she died.
And the woman wasn't turned away.

And apparently you're calling her family, who confirm these facts, liars.

[roguevalley]

40. given her previous trouncing on the bosnia issue and the rising

negatives that tie to her trustworthiness and the fact that for eight years we have all lived in oz, she is REQUIRED to be truthful for nothing more than the fact that people will check. what does it say about her and her ability to have good people work for her when they do something this lazy, this stupid, this easily debunked? It tells me that she is a liar or a fool. Either way, no one is looking at health care or her positions on it. they can't get around the lie.

[TLM]

64. I think the bigger deal....

at least here on DU, is how Hillary supporter ran to bash and deny... to attack the hospital adn attack anybody who took issue with Hillary once again telling a BS story to manipulate voters.

I agree it is no big deal.... only because she does this almost daily.

How sad is that, Hillary lies so much and so often that finding a major distortion like this, is no big deal. It seems insignificant in the haze of all her other lies and BS.

[boobooday]

2. Talk about playing into RW hands

With so many true health-care horror stories, most of them involving insurance companies, why not use a real one?

How about Hollywood Presbyterian dumping homeless, ill people in the gutters of skid row with no clothes? That is well-documented.

Or she could ask Michael Moore.

The RW will use this kind of thing to act like our health care problem isn't real.

[jasmine621]

45. hillary relied on a story told to her. some of the facts were not vetted.

All she has to do is explain how she used the story by depending on it second hand. I am sure, Obama has done the same thing except few, if any, will challenge St. Obama. He gets away with a lot of stuff.

[OzarkDem]

51. This may have been a case of "patient dumping"

and that may be why the hospital is attacking her,even though they were never named.

[DerekJ]

3. Thanks for the article.. but honestly I don't see any wrong doing other than

an incompetent campaign that is unable to properly vet their stories. They made a mistake about a story, big deal.

[Yossariant]

4. "The hospital would not provide details about the woman’s case, citing privacy concerns"

:wtf:

"she died two weeks after the stillbirth at a medical center in Columbus."

:shrug:

Democrats still shilling for the GOP --- President McCain.

[maddiejoan]

6. Thank you

For doing the GOP's dirty work for them, Will.

Did you also post articles about Gore inventing the internet and cleaning up Love Canal?

Seriously --what does posting this non-story do for you?

[MH1]

7. By telling this story, Hillary BEGGED the hospital to contest it.

You'd think she'd have been smart enough to only use this if it checked out as iron-clad.

You see, she essentially slandered the hospital by this story. Isn't it expected that they would defend themselves.

I swear the first time I heard that statement from Hillary, my very first thought was "I wonder what that hospital thinks about this?" Well, now we know.

This doesn't equate to the "Gore invented the internet" or Love Canal, because Gore never actually said those things.

[maddiejoan]

8. She related her reaction to a story

told to her by a Sheriff.

:shrug:

It's a non-story.

Meanwhile --you also are helping the GOP to "Gore" another candidate.

If Obama's was scrutinized as heavily as this -- you'd be running him out of the race on a rail.

[MH1]

10. Oh, b.s. on the "Gore" stuff.

Hillary already "gored" herself with the Bosnia story. She'd be more resilient to this episode - which really looks just like minor poor campaign judgment, nothing huge - if she hadn't set the stage for people to distrust her.

[maddiejoan]

12. Your take on the Bosnia story

is still more "Gore-ing"

[JackORoses]

39. you wish her dishonesty was a non-story. but, actually, it is the defining story of Hillary

[maddiejoan]

80. delete

why even bother.

[kevinmc]

9. If the story isn't true .... she slandered the Hospital ....

and by the way they phrased it for her to stop saying it ... wouldn't suprise me if they didn't sue her for Libel.

[LisaL]

15. I don't think she ever even mentioned the name of the hospital

when she told the story.

[OzarkDem]

50. So it seems very odd this hospital would attack her

Methinks they doth protest too much.

That and the fact they keep changing their story as well as violating the patients' privacy is very telling.

[TLM]

69. How disgusting....

That you and Hillary would desecrate this woman's memory, and that of her child, in order to use this fabricated story for political gain.

Trina Bachtel's own family has confirmed that Hillary was lying.

So now you know better than her own family what happened?

Is her family lying to protect the hospital?





http://www.nypost.com/seven/04062008/news/nationalnews/a_painful_lie_105295.htm

But the family of the 35-year-old woman - Trina Bachtel - says the story is simply not true.

"Trina had good insurance. She was a good girl, and she worked hard. That story made her look like she was a welfare bum," her 80-year-old grandmother May Mayle told The Post yesterday.

Mayle confirmed that Bachtel died last August from complications related to a late-pregnancy miscarriage, but said she was never turned away from a hospital.

"The family is real torn up about it. I can't understand why they'd make her out to look like she was so unstable," said Mayle.

[NashVegas]

19. She Never Mentioned the Hospital

or the woman's name. The hospital took it upon themselves - violating the privacy claims they say they are protecting in their refusal to give more details.

The funny thing is, the woman in question did not die at the hospital that the NYT story cites - she died further away, in Columbus. Perhaps she had, indeed, been turned away. Perhaps there's another wrinkle in the story, altogether and O'Bleness is protestething too much.

[LisaL]

18. This is such a bunch of crap.

Hillary did not name the woman or the hospital.
How did she slander this hospital, do tell?

[WolverineDG]

16. Will didn't tell her to lie about it

she decided to do that all on her own.

dg

[Name removed]

21. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[WilliamPitt]

23. Thank you

for crediting me with having editorial power over the New York Times.

Very flattering.

But, yeah...no.

Rumor has it that using false information to buttress policy isn't a good thing for politicians to do.

That was my opinion during the Times editorial meeting, anyway.

Mm.

[maddiejoan]

24. Did I say you did?

I'll be more clear then.

You posted an MSM article that participates in a "narrative' being created about Hillary Clinton that does the Democratic Party no favors.

You are as complicit now in this activity as any moron who sends an e-mail chain letter, or gossips like a school-girl about "so and so" did such "such and such"

You no doubt chortled with childish glee as you decided to further pollute "The Internets" with speciously concocted "important information" from the NYT.

You used your self-appointed position of DU potentate, to distribute a clearly slanted hit-piece on Clinton, for what?

What does this gain you?

Some thumbs up smileys, and "way to go, Will" posts.

Is your fragile little ego so worn out that you require a daily dose of Hossanahs from your minions of Hillary-hating goombahs?

When the dust settles, are you going to be truly happy with your behavior?

My guess is that you don't even understand what you're doing anymore. Which I find to be incredibly sad.

[SaveOurDemocracy]

46. Thanks, maddiejoan ... that seems to sum it up!

:kick:

[TLM]

70. So apparently the truth....

The truth is a conspiracy to make hillary look bad.

"Hillary-hating goombahs?"

Is that a racist slur?

[maddiejoan]

77. Yeah it's a racist slur

obviously I am of the belief that all Obama supporters are Italian Americans.

:eyes:

[anigbrowl]

61. You call posting a news report for the NYT doing the GOP's work for them?

Get a grip.

[maddiejoan]

79. Did I stutter?

No.

So asked and answered.

[mtnsnake]

11. President Hillary R. Clinton

Just sayin'

[boston bean]

13. Is this another one of those stories you are going to look foolish for posting?

Why don't you look around GDP and figure out that something is amiss with the hospitals story.

But alas, that would be to difficult.

And really who gives a shit about this, except the progressives on a bender swiftboating another dem.

[TLM]

72. So is the woman's family lying too?

Her own grandmother is backing up the hospital's story and confirming Hillary lied and slandered her granddaughter's memory.

Absolutly disgusting the lengths some clinton supporters will go to in order to keep their heads rooted firmly... in the sand.



So tell me, is her 80 year old grandmother lying?



http://www.nypost.com/seven/04062008/news/nationalnews/...

But the family of the 35-year-old woman - Trina Bachtel - says the story is simply not true.

"Trina had good insurance. She was a good girl, and she worked hard. That story made her look like she was a welfare bum," her 80-year-old grandmother May Mayle told The Post yesterday.

Mayle confirmed that Bachtel died last August from complications related to a late-pregnancy miscarriage, but said she was never turned away from a hospital.

"The family is real torn up about it. I can't understand why they'd make her out to look like she was so unstable," said Mayle.

[bigtree]

14. I don't know if you're playing the gotcha game with this. Stories do get shot down in campaigns

It's not like Clinton was the first to relate a story from a voter which didn't pan out. It happens in campaigns. This one seems sincerely related by a voter. So it proved false. SO WHAT?

Are you just trying to pile onto the cheap campaign ploy of portraying the opponent as a liar, or, are you actually trying to say that hospitals don't deny care and turn sick folks away because of lack of insurance? Because, no matter if the particulars of this story didn't pan out, the issue Hillary Clinton was trying to relate is real and important enough to make a campaign issue.

What's more important? Marking Clinton as a liar for relating the story she was told, or allowing that the issue she was highlighting is real and deserving of a voice in this campaign?

Did you watch Sicko? " . . . personal, heart-wrenching vignettes from Americans whose health insurance denied them necessary care, such as a woman whose young daughter died after being denied care at a hospital not approved by her HMO."

[JBoy]

17. Clinton's fabrication, and her previous fabrications, changed the focus of this story

The media is not talking about health care, they're talking about Clinton's habit of mis-speaking/exaggerating.

Hillary shot this story in its foot.

[bigtree]

20. Funny, how we have plenty of examples of stories which had particulars that turned out false

. . . come from Obama's mouth. They've been reported, but not as a 'habit of mis-speaking/exaggerating' as Clinton's have been. It's a cute game to nail the opponent as a liar for these exaggerations, but it usually comes back to bite those who use the cheap political tactic in their own duplicitous campaign.

[LisaL]

33. What are you talking about? Professor Obama can do no wrong.

LOL.

[MonkeyFunk]

25. OMG! She's almost as big a liar

as Al Gore!

[Bread and Circus]

26. Why this isn't just an "honest mistake":

Not vetting and then repeating such a charge is inexcusable on many grounds:

1.) It's one thing to not vet a feel good story but it's entirely another to irresponsibly repeat a story that nearly amounts to a wrongful death without checking into it.

2.) Repeating such a story, if not true, could lead to material harm to that community hospital.

3.) All of this throws sand in the eyes of the average voter because such an occurence is not exemplary of what usually happens in the case of the uninsured. It's rare for hospitals to outright deny care and it is against the law to deny emergency care and any kind of fetal distress is an emergency. What happens more often is that the care is rendered but that people can't afford the medical bills and are often forced into bankruptcy.

4.) Demonizing hospitals is the wrong road to take, especially when you take into account that the hospital in question is a community hospital in a town of 21,000. Obleness Hospital is a private non-profit (just like the hospital in my small town). It is really hard for hospitals like that to survive and render local care for their communities.

5.) The hospital in question takes medicaid and officially renders FREE CARE ( please see their pdf for billing details: http://www.obleness.org/aboutobleness/billingpractices.pdf ) . It literally took me two minutes look that up, by the way.

6.) Instead of directly vilifying hospitals and indirectly vilifying nurses, doctors, and ancillary staff (radiology techs, physical therapy, occupational therapy, lab techs), Clinton should be going hard after insurance companies and drug companies.

Bottom line: The important thing to focus on is adopting a system that is effective and cost effective. The broken patchwork system we have now is beyond repair and mandated universal insurance will not solve the problem, neither will non-mandated universal insurance. A universal federal single payer system that provides for all necessary preventive, chronic, and episodic care is what we fundamentally need. Our Democratic leaders do us all a dis-service by not standing up for federal single payer care. By making false charges against community hospitals that economically struggle to provide care for their communities is not only dangerous and wrong, it is opportunistic. Hospitals aren't the bad guys. If anyone is the bad bad guy, it's the politicians that have failed to stand up for a system that works.

[LisaL]

27. Hillary did not name the hospital nor the woman.

The hospital took it upon itself to come forward.
By the way the woman did not die in that hospital, she died in Columbus.
So, why is the hospital coming forward claiming the story isn't true, when, in fact, the woman did not even die there?

[TLM]

73. Because that where the infant was stillborn two weeks earlier.

Clinton has told this story several times, with several variations and embellishments.

But yeah so the hospital is in the wrong for defending themselves against clinton's slander.


And apparently the woman;s family are also liars according to the Clinton supporters here who will defend any lie Clinton tells.



http://www.nypost.com/seven/04062008/news/nationalnews/...

But the family of the 35-year-old woman - Trina Bachtel - says the story is simply not true.

"Trina had good insurance. She was a good girl, and she worked hard. That story made her look like she was a welfare bum," her 80-year-old grandmother May Mayle told The Post yesterday.

Mayle confirmed that Bachtel died last August from complications related to a late-pregnancy miscarriage, but said she was never turned away from a hospital.

"The family is real torn up about it. I can't understand why they'd make her out to look like she was so unstable," said Mayle.

[boston bean]

28. Hillary did not say the hospital name or the dead persons name.

She was using a story about how bad the Health Insurance Industry is.

And if people want to use this as an example of Hillary "lying" it gives Insurance Co's an excuse to say, it really aint that bad.

[SoCalDem]

30. The hospital needs to sue her.. The Clintons always trot out lawyers

or the threat of lawyers..so the hospital should , as well..

gander, meet sauce :)

[bigtree]

31. the victim's family ought to sue the hospital for naming her

. . . and, they outed themselves, not Clinton, who never publicly named them or the victim.

[anigbrowl]

62. That's not actually true

The Pomeroy Daily Sentinel newspaper carried death notices (with brief details, names of the hospital and dates) of the woman and her child last August. It was public information already. I went to their website and took a look and found the info in a few minutes (out of respect I'm not reposting in here).

[LisaL]

32. You are being absolutely ridiculous. Hillary did not name the

hospital or the woman.

[RoadRage]

34. Ironic if the Hospital decided to sue for say... $109 million or so?

I mean, now that they know what she's worth and all.

This story to me isn't that big of a deal (although I suspect that if Obama had told this story the same Clinton supporters who think this is "no big deal" would be the first ones on here jumping up & down screaming about how untrustworthy he is).

The bigger issue is that Clinton is now being show to say anything to get elected - this isn't the first story this week, it's the 2nd. And if you don't think McCain's cronnies aren't going to have one nice big commercial with her in Bosnia, followed by this story and whatever else pops up - you're wrong. He's going to paint her as the "Do or Say whatever to get elected" candidate.. and it WILL work. No swiftboating required - she's doing it to herself.

[SoCalDem]

36. Swift-boating herself.. saves the repubes the trouble

:rofl:

[LisaL]

37. Are you really that clueless? They can't sue her.

She didn't name this particular hospital as the one who denied the woman care.
She didn't even name the woman.

[RoadRage]

44. The point of my post wasn't about suing..

Thanks- i'm well aware enough to know that legally Ms. Clinton will weather this fabrication just fine. Only the polls & voters will tell if they are open to swallowing more of her BS - but stories like this take her lead in PA down another point or 2 as undecided voters make the decision that they really don't want another fraud in office for 4 - 8 more years.

[OzarkDem]

53. So its not a "big deal" if a woman and her child die from lack of care?

Ok, just so we understand where Obama supporters priorities lie. Thanks for that information.

[RoadRage]

59. What in the FUCK are you talking about?

I just re-read my post, and I nowhere said, or even implied anything about it being no big deal if a woman and her child die from lack of care. And, i'm going to assume you're not a complete idiot and are very much able to understand that. So, you like your candidate just like to twist words for fun. And you wonder why you are on the losing side of this contest?

In case you really are low on the intelligence spectrum - let me spell out my original meaning that is obvious to anyone else who read my post. THE FACT THAT CLINTON "MIS SPOKE" ABOUT THIS STORY IS NOT A BIG DEAL TO ME. I was actually being somewhat NICE to your candidate in insinuating that this story has been a bit overblown. But, in your zest to bash anything with an Obama bumper in it.. you neglected to see that.

Anyway.. it doesn't matter. Hillary has dug her own grave, and it's posters like you that i'm happy to see suffer with her failing.

[TLM]

68. You are calling Trina Bachtel's family liars.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/04062008/news/nationalnews/a_painful_lie_105295.htm

But the family of the 35-year-old woman - Trina Bachtel - says the story is simply not true.

"Trina had good insurance. She was a good girl, and she worked hard. That story made her look like she was a welfare bum," her 80-year-old grandmother May Mayle told The Post yesterday.

Mayle confirmed that Bachtel died last August from complications related to a late-pregnancy miscarriage, but said she was never turned away from a hospital.

"The family is real torn up about it. I can't understand why they'd make her out to look like she was so unstable," said Mayle.

[OzarkDem]

49. The family needs to sue the hospital

and that may be what they're afraid of, justifiably so.

[TLM]

71. The family is confirming and supporting the hospital's story...

Maybe they should sue hillary? Since she's the one slandering this poor woman's memory for political gain.




http://www.nypost.com/seven/04062008/news/nationalnews/...

But the family of the 35-year-old woman - Trina Bachtel - says the story is simply not true.

"Trina had good insurance. She was a good girl, and she worked hard. That story made her look like she was a welfare bum," her 80-year-old grandmother May Mayle told The Post yesterday.

Mayle confirmed that Bachtel died last August from complications related to a late-pregnancy miscarriage, but said she was never turned away from a hospital.

"The family is real torn up about it. I can't understand why they'd make her out to look like she was so unstable," said Mayle.

[KaptBunnyPants]

35. Hmm, I'm gonna have to side with Hillary on this.

Our healthcare system is scummy and I don't trust a hospital to tell the truth if they killed a mother. I've seen too many stories out there like homeless people in need of medical attention being dumped on the street to cut costs. If they won't release the records, I believe Hillary more than I believe them.

[maximusveritas]

38. I'm an Obama supporter, but I think we need to give her a pass on this

Unlike the Bosnia lie, this one wasn't made in order to boost herself up. It was made to expose a very real problem. While this example may not be true, there are plenty of other examples that are true. So we need to avoid publicizing this and hurting the cause just to get at Hillary.

[IndianaGreen]

43. Hillary should be in charge of Orwell's Ministry of Truth

for that is where her talents really lie.

[maddiejoan]

47. Really?

Because it seems more like Winston Smith has been operating Obama's campaign website.

NAFTA what?

Rev. Caldwell who?

Rev Wright who?

I agreed with Bush on Iraq when?

The hits just keep disappearing whenever politically expedient.

It's rewrite upsub fullwise on all non-persons and non-events over there.

[bigtree]

55. I like how he 're-created' parts of the 2002 Iraq speech for their campaign ad

. . . complete with fake applause and with Obama re-reading the text, because they didn't have any audio of it.

[OzarkDem]

48. The hospital keeps changing its story

and hiding behind patient confidentiality. If they are so concerned about the deceased patient's rights, why do they keep bringing it up?

Reality check: We're dealing with a hospital headed by a conservative hospital administrator who is head of an organization known to have problems in advocating for the rights of patients.

This happened in a state that ranks among the nation's WORST in many measures of providing quality health care, one that consistently ranks at the bottom for measure of health care quality.

http://statesnapshots.ahrq.gov/snaps07/dashboard.jsp?menuId=4&level=0&state=OH

Its also a state whose rural hospitals routinely and systematically try to shift the burden of uncompensated and low-profit care to public hospitals, usually at the risk of patients' health. The head of the hospital critical of Clinton is also head of an association who supports passing the buck for uncompensated care and ignores a growing problem of "patient dumping" in rural areas.

Clinton's mention of this story unearthed some panic in the Ohio health care system and now she's facing the blowback.

[bigtree]

54. and, this denial from the hospital is being used without any fact checking on their claims

all of their (predictable) denial presented as fact. I wouldn't be surprised to find that they've shaded the truth to cover for their complicity.

[maddiejoan]

56. But the hospital wouldn't have any motive to lie!

Oh wait --


nevermind.

[anigbrowl]

63. Sigh...it's a non-profit foundation and has been non-profit since the 1950s

And the death notices in the local paper which were published last august verify their account.

[maddiejoan]

75. sigh

that doesn't really speak to the matter does it.

[TLM]

65. I'm surprised you don;t just say....

I'm surprised you don't just say that Clinton never said anything about the hospital. You know, the same way you lied and denied she ever said anything about sniper fire.

Since you seem so willing to blatantly disregard the facts and lie to cover for hillary's lies.... why not just deny she ever said anything? It would be equally as embarrassingly ineffectual as trying to attack a NOT-FOR-PROFIT hospital that has been serving their community since the 50's.

Even the woman's own family is pissed at clinton for her stump lies. Clinton even made up quotes for the woman and the hospital.

[TLM]

74. Nothing in your post supports you claim...

You say the hospital is changing their story... yet you cite no change.

The hospital said this woman wasn't turned away or denied care, that she was insured, and that while her infant was stillborn at that hospital, she did not die there. BECAUSE HER OWN FAMILY TRANSFERED HER TO ANOTHER HOSPITAL. Also the hospital did not release any confidential information... Hillary gave out where the young pregnant woman lived and worked and the Washington post and local papers took it from there.


Her own family confirms this.....




http://www.nypost.com/seven/04062008/news/nationalnews/...

But the family of the 35-year-old woman - Trina Bachtel - says the story is simply not true.

"Trina had good insurance. She was a good girl, and she worked hard. That story made her look like she was a welfare bum," her 80-year-old grandmother May Mayle told The Post yesterday.

Mayle confirmed that Bachtel died last August from complications related to a late-pregnancy miscarriage, but said she was never turned away from a hospital.

"The family is real torn up about it. I can't understand why they'd make her out to look like she was so unstable," said Mayle.

[LisaL]

78. Welfare bums, as grandmother put it, have medicaid.

By the way, Hillary repeated the story the way she heard it from the sheriff. Sheriff had claimed he heard the story from a family member.
Hillary did not name the woman or the hospital.
I think the attack on Hillary on this is completely un-fair.
But of course DUbama won't stoop too low.
Do you think "Professor" Obama never told something ain't exactly accurate in his campaign?

[Catherina]

66. Rec'd n/t