Clinton drops hospital story from stump speech

[Hope And Change]

Sen. Hillary Clinton was repeating a story she heard from someone on the campaign trail.


Clinton drops hospital story from stump speech


April 6, 2008 -- Updated 0250 GMT (1050 HKT)

From Steve Brusk

CNN

(CNN) -- Sen. Hillary Clinton will stop telling an emotional story about a uninsured pregnant woman who died after being denied medical care, Clinton's campaign said.

A hospital has raised questions over the accuracy of the story, and Clinton's campaign has said although they had no reason to doubt the story, they were unable to confirm the details.

In the story, Clinton describes a woman from rural Ohio who was making minimum wage at a local pizza shop. The woman, who was uninsured, became pregnant.

Clinton said the woman ran into trouble and went to a hospital in a nearby county but was denied treatment because she couldn't afford a $100 payment.

In her speeches, Clinton said the woman later was taken to the hospital by ambulance and lost the baby. The young woman was then taken by helicopter to a Columbus hospital where she died of complications.

more...

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/04/06/clinton.hospital/index.html

[SunsetDreams]

1. it's a good thing because the family was upset...

April 6, 2008 -- Hillary Rodham Clinton "misspoke" again on the campaign trail - and a distraught Ohio family is furious about it.

Several times in recent months while talking about her plan for universal health care, Clinton told a tale of woe about a young pregnant woman who sought medical care at a local hospital and was turned away for lack of insurance - and both she and the baby died.

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.

As Clinton told the story during campaign rallies, the young, pregnant woman in difficulty was turned down for treatment because she was uninsured and couldn't pay $100 up front.

She didn't name Bachtel or the hospital involved, but after the Washington Post ran a story identifying her and where she worked - a Pizza Hut in Pomeroy, Ohio - local papers made it front-page news, horrifying her still-grieving family.

"Of course she would have had $100," fumed Mayle. "Her boyfriend's real angry about it, too, because he had good insurance. They were going to get married, but worked so hard they couldn't find the time."

Clinton apparently learned of the story from one of her local supporters, Deputy Sheriff Bryan Holman. He told papers he heard it secondhand from Bachtel family members. At an event with Sen. Clinton, he related it to her.

"She tells the story as it was told to her by the deputy sheriff," a Clinton spokesperson said. "She had no reason to doubt his word."

Mayle said Bachtel went to the O'Bleness Memorial Hospital on Aug. 4 for a routine check-up and was told her baby was stillborn.

"They told her to come back the next day, and she did, and they made her deliver the baby even though he was dead. Then she just didn't get better."

The family transferred her to a different facility in Columbus, where she died Aug. 17.

The Clinton camp told papers it had tried to check out as much of Holman's story as was possible, but hadn't been able verify all the details.


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