Hillary and the Bachtel Medical Story
Posted on Sat Apr 05, 2008 at 12:30:21 PM EST
Tags: (all tags)
By Big Tent Democrat
Speaking for me only
Who was Trina Bachtel? According to this NYTimes story:
Trina Bachtel . . . die[d] last August, two weeks after her baby boy was stillborn at O’Bleness Memorial Hospital in Athens, Ohio.
This has become a new source for Clinton Derangement Syndrome at an Obama blog because:
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. 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.
Senator Clinton heard this story, from Ohio Deputy Sheriff Brian Holman:
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.
Senator Clinton NEVER mentioned the hospital nor named Ms. Bachtel, she merely related the story, as politicians, even the sainted Barack Obama, often do. As we all know, if the Media or blogs were intent on finding misstatements and/or exaggerations in politicians' statements, even those of the sainted Barack Obama, they can be found. What was important here is the issue. If you are intent on hating Hillary Clinton, you can make a big deal about this honest potential mistake - which came from relying upon an honest Ohio Sheriff's Deputy. If what you care about is blasting Hillary Clinton - if you do not care about reforming health care in this country - then by all means - act as if you see this as a big Clinton lie.
But if you care about the health care issue, if you care about people like Trina Bachtel, you might want to ask why this Ohio hospital made such a big deal about this. You might wonder about this:
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. . . .
(Emphasis supplied.) Since neither the hospital nor Ms. Bachtel were named in the speech or in any story, why would the hospital be implicated? Why would the hospital seek to INJECT itself into this story? Frankly, the Hospital's DESIRE to become a part of this story is simply bizarre and suspicious. And its statements are contradictory:
"[T]he 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.”
(Emphasis supplied.) Of course, the hospital completely violated Ms. Bechtel's privacy by revealing what it did. Of course when it became convenient to the hospital, it decided that privacy concerns would limit what it would further say.
This is all very bizarre. A hospital injecting itself into a story to announce a patient died under its care, all in an attempt to attack Hillary Clinton. But of course, if hating Hillary Clinton is your avocation - the issue of health care reform, the bizarre behavior of the hospital in question and the death of Trina Bachtel are of little importance to you. Get Hillary!!!!! What has happened to the progressive blogs in this election season is simply awful.
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