Another tall tale

[pdxmom]

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

"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."


I'm sure that Clinton really meant no harm with this story, but I do think that if you're going to tell a "real life" anecdote, you get it right. You don't rely on third-hand information without verification just because the story you heard fits narrative. There are a lot of medical nightmares out there, but this evidently wasn't one of them. To me, this again just shows that I can't trust what Clinton says, even about the "little stuff".

[hisownpetard]

1. Ouch.

[TexasObserver]

2. the truth does not matter to Team Clinton

Only the tale matters, and if they have to make it up, that's what they do. Like the book bag fabrication or the sniper story.

[leftofcool]

3. Let's see, she gets the info from the Sherrif's dept.....

who in all probability got a 911 call on it. They tell her the woman was refused treatment, and the hospital says it is a lie? I can't think of one reason a sheriff would need to like but I can think of a whole host or reasons for a hospital to lie. It wouldn't be the first time a hospital refused treatment to someone uninsured or under-insured.

[pdxmom]

5. You should read the article. This was a third-hand account. Not

from a 911 call.

[leftofcool]

8. "Mrs. Clinton had first heard from a Meigs County, Ohio, sheriff’s deputy in late February."

Why would the sheriff's dept lie?

[pdxmom]

10. Not to go to far afield, but I work for a criminal defense attorney, so

I cannot give an unbiased response to your question about law enforcement officers lying. I see it on an almost daily basis.

[leftofcool]

12. read this from the link

The sheriff’s deputy, Bryan Holman, had played host to Mrs. Clinton in his home before the Ohio primary. Deputy Holman said in a telephone interview that a conversation about health care led him to relate the story of Ms. Bachtel. He never mentioned the name of the hospital that supposedly turned her away because he did not know it, he said.

He didn't give the name of the hospital and now "a hospital" is coming out saying Clinton is lying?

[pdxmom]

16. The point is, this is a story that could be checked out. The Clinton

campaign didn't bother doing so. They just ran with the story. Like I said, I don't believe it was an intentional "lie". I think it was laziness, because the story fit a narrative and that was good enough.

[Harry Monroe]

25. Like her Bosnian story could have been "checked out"??

Lazy or not, intentional or not, Team Clinton loves to tell tall tales. They must think we are idiots.

[Cha]

31. And it doesn't help them..

that they're all a bunch of lying, pandering idiots.

I have been at the point for a while that whatever hilary says has to be verified and vetted.

[quantass]

36. .

[Adelante]

20. What does the Sheriff's Dept have to do with anything?

It's one employee in his off-duty life who repeated something he'd heard second hand - it's not an official report of the Sheriff's Department and there is no indication he is lying. The information he heard seems not to have been accurate. But you shouldn't be disguising his statement as some kind of official release of evidence by a law enforcement authority, either.

The sheriff’s deputy, Bryan Holman, had played host to Mrs. Clinton in his home before the Ohio primary. Deputy Holman said in a telephone interview that a conversation about health care led him to relate the story of Ms. Bachtel. He never mentioned the name of the hospital that supposedly turned her away because he did not know it, he said.

Deputy Holman knew Ms. Bachtel’s story only secondhand, having learned it from close relatives of the woman. Ms. Bachtel’s relatives did not return phone calls Friday.

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.”

[anigbrowl]

32. Why would the Sheriff's dept. be any kind of expert on healthcare?

One of my neighbors is a firefighter, but that doesn't make him any kind of expert on what happens in the police department.

[phrigndumass]

6. Nice assumption

OP's link was from the New York Times. Where's yours?

[leftofcool]

9. Same link says Clinton got the info from the Sherff's dept

Why would a sheriff's dept lie about something like this?

[phrigndumass]

11. Same link also says the hospital never spoke to the Clinton campaign

[leftofcool]

13. Read this part

The sheriff’s deputy, Bryan Holman, had played host to Mrs. Clinton in his home before the Ohio primary. Deputy Holman said in a telephone interview that a conversation about health care led him to relate the story of Ms. Bachtel. He never mentioned the name of the hospital that supposedly turned her away because he did not know it, he said.

[phrigndumass]

19. The deputy didn't verify it himself? Sounds like hearsay

Hearsay can make for tall tales. Thus the OP title.

[merh]

15. you do know that one deputy is not the department, don't you

You do know that most departments have a policy that only the sheriff or the press officer can make an official statement, don't you?

They got the story from a citizen who is employed as a deputy, not the Sheriff's Department.

And you do know that Clinton's campaign should have fully investigated the "story" to get the facts straight, don't you?

[leftofcool]

17. And which hospital should they have contacted? No name

[merh]

21. They should have contacted them all.

They should have tried to find the family of the woman that died to get the facts.

They should have vetted the story - they admit they did not.

It would be nice if you would retract your comments about the sheriff's department. That exaggeration of stated facts in the article is not an accurate statement and you should admit to being wrong.

[anigbrowl]

34. All the more reason not to put it in a campaign speech - it's just a rumor!

Do you forward every urban legend that shows up in your inbox on the assumption that it must be true or nobody would have repeated it to you?

[goldcanyonaz]

4. Regardless of the name, this DOES happen. We need universal healthcare.

Can't we ever be on the same fucking team? I could post shit all day long about Obama being viewed in a bad light, but I don't. Why? Because I'm a Democrat and I thought we all wanted the same thing.

[pdxmom]

7. I'm fully aware that this does happen. I'm married to someone with

a physical disability, so I live my life dealing with misdiagnoses, fighting the insurance companies and dealing with general crap. And we need universal healthcare. It's incredibly scary what my husband and I are facing when he's ready to retire, due to having a pre-existing condition. But, like I said, there are tons of true stories out there. Use one of those. Don't take a story that is untrue and then have it blow up in your face. That just defeats the purpose and makes people disinclined to believe that a real problem exists.

[JayFredMuggs]

14. So ANY lie that Clinton tells, if she continually "mis-speaks", it isOK with

Hillary supporters, cause it's just "fellow Democrats" who support Obama that make an issue of it?

Do you REALLY want another four years of someone who can't tell us the truth ALL that time?

Either she "mis-spoke" or embellishes her stories to make a point, routinely, George Bush does that routinely. I have had enough.

[leftofcool]

18. No, you're right, I don't want Obama.........

he has yet to tell the truth on anything

[City Lights]

22. With all her money and connections, it should be easy to find a true story

to make her point.

The hospital is offended by her remark and wants her to stop using it on the stump.

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

Why are you okay with her trashing the reputation of this particular hospital just to make a point? Do you have some other information about them that you'd like to share?

[roseBudd]

23. "this DOES happen" I live in OH & have showed up uninsured at many ERs & never asked for $ or turned

away.

My personal experiences with uninsured indigent care raises my bullshit awareness.

[Buzz Clik]

24. I agree, and we can be on the same team.

But it doesn't help any of us when this shit happens over and over again.

[mrJJ]

26. not able to fully vet it?

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.”

[Prophet 451]

27. I'm actually gonna cut her some slack on this one

The story she told made her point effectively and does happen (even if it didn't happen to this particular woman).

[Adelante]

28. I'm not sure how fully any campaign actually vets these trail anecdotes

They become everyperson stories to illustrate something. Not using the woman's name may have been safer.

[Cha]

33. That would have been the smart way..

especially right on top of her Bosnian Sniper LIE.

[Zachstar]

29. Please let the TV and radio stations in PA know about this!!

[ORDem]

30. k&r

:kick:

[quantass]

35. k&r