SubscribeShocker: Hillary Lied About “Uninsured Mom”
Buried deep in the back pages (in the “Politics” section) of the seldom-read Saturday edition of the New York Times:
Ohio Hospital Contests a Story Clinton Tells
By DEBORAH SONTAG
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.”
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.”
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.
Although Mrs. Clinton has told the story repeatedly, it first came to the attention of the hospital after The Washington Post cited it as a staple of her stump speeches on Thursday. That brought it to the attention of The Daily Sentinel in Pomeroy, Ohio, which published an article on Friday.
Neither paper named the hospital or challenged Mrs. Clinton’s account.
How breathtakingly typical of Mrs. Clinton — and of course our watchdog media.
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.
But when has the cold and joyless one ever let such details get in the way of a self-serving story?
Of course the fact that the DNC’s New York Times reported this story at all is a stunning testament to how far the mighty Clintons have fallen.
Still, we are talking about two real life (and now dead) human beings here. Is there nothing that Hillary won’t lie about to promote herself and her socialist agenda?
At long last, Mrs. Clinton, have you no shame?
(These are rhetorical questions of course.)
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21 Responses to “Shocker: Hillary Lied About “Uninsured Mom””
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April 6th, 2008 at 12:16 am
In a true emergency, no one in the U.S. is turned away. On the other hand, if someone comes in with a non life/limb/sight threatening emergency they will probably be seen once and referred to the appropriate primary care provider or specialist for follow up. Everybody expects to be paid somehow or they can’t stay in business. Most providers are sympathetic to patients who are truly in need but can spot people who are simply trying to take advantage of them. If a patient comes in with a cough, is smoking 2 or 3 packs of cigarettes a day and drinking 2 cases of beer a week, they can afford to pay $100 for a doctor visit if they simply give up smoking cigarettes (I know, easier said than done). But many if not most providers would tell a patient, “You pay me 5 or 10 dollars a month towards your bill, as a sign of good will, and I will take care of you.”. You would be surprised at the number of people who are pissed off that you would ask them for a token payment. You can’t give it away for free, even if you could afford to because people inherently know that they get what they pay for, except sometimes they can get a good deal. If you see people for free they assume your advice is worthless,and they won’t follow it, as they assume they can expect to get what they pay for. People value their money and their vices more than they do their health. When politicians speak of health care as a right, people think: yeah, like the right to free speech, health care should be free. Of course, someone has to pay for it. If the company or the government is paying for it, they can’t get enough. On the other hand, if they have to pay a reasonable amount, even for a co-pay or a deductible they don’t want any health care until they are truly desperate and then they think they have every right to stiff the doctor. The Electric company, the gas company, and the local service station would simply cut you off and charge you a re-hookup fee if you tried to stiff them, why should routine health care be any different. As a humorous aside, I had an employee of the local cable television company tell me that he once went out to trouble shoot a no service call. He checked the cable out and it was working fine. When he went to the house to talk to the lady he noticed that the electricity was out in her house. It turns out that she couldn’t afford to pay the electricity and the cable so she payed the cable not realizing that she needed electricity to turn the stupid T.V. on. True story, and she was pissed.
April 6th, 2008 at 3:38 am
As I said in that other article, wouldn’t we all be more surprised if she DIDN’T lie about this stuff?
April 6th, 2008 at 3:51 am
That last little story is hilarious take! I have seen and heard similar things, but I’ll save them for now.
I once lived in Fort Worth and my girlfriend’s niece became desperately ill one morning about 3am so we rushed her downtown to John Peter Smith Hospital. Upon entering the ER we were astonished to see hundreds of people, mostly all Hispanic and I assume illegal, lining the walls in a standing room only waiting room. It took three hours before a doctor saw the young lady and she was immediately admitted.
While waiting I made small talk with some of the English speakers there and most had common colds or similar non-emergency related illnesses.
This is what’s breaking our health care system and making it incredibly expensive for those of us who do pay.
JPS will take anyone no matter their ability to pay. The hospital was donated a huge sums of money years ago by a very wealthy widow of an oil tycoon and is taxpayer funded. While they may be able to absorb such costs most rural hospitals cannot and end up closing.
Allowing Hillary or Obama to tinker with our health care system will doom us to sights like I illustrated above and other perils.
She’s the biggest liar I’ve heard tell of and not very good at it either.
April 6th, 2008 at 4:48 am
News Alert Clinton lied.
If anyone thinks Clinton won’t do and say anything to win the White House they might want to start reading and listening.
Clinton video of her lie about Bosnia.http://theglobaltimes.com/?p=246 Clinton said she was under sniper fire and had to rush for cover when she went to Bosnia. CBS shows what really happened. They were there with her http://theglobaltimes.com/?p=246
April 6th, 2008 at 10:41 am
“Clinton video of her lie about Bosnia.http://theglobaltimes.com/?p=246 Clinton said she was under sniper fire and had to rush for cover when she went to Bosnia. CBS shows what really happened. They were there with her http://theglobaltimes.com/?p=246”
Not to brag, Brian, but we had exposed this lie weeks before CBS did, using Hillary’s own book:
Hillary Says She Risked Her Life As First Lady | Sweetness & Light
http://sweetness-light.com/arc.....first-lady
April 6th, 2008 at 3:58 pm
Apparently Hillary’s lies are being noticed in a very important primary state.
From the Charlotte Observer (I found on Yahoo news):
“Only 25 percent of voters gave Clinton high marks for trustworthiness, compared with 54 percent for McCain and 48 percent for Obama.”
http://www.charlotte.com/polit.....67558.html
Sadly, it is easy to pull the wool over many American’s eyes. To to see her do so poorly in this mainstream poll speaks volumes.
April 6th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
In an effort to “consider the environment” I would like to suggest that we save paper & ink by reporting when Mrs. Clinton has told the truth instead of lied (again).
April 6th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
Reality Bytes
lol….I suddenly feel like going green. I also wish her nose would grow with every lie. America will once again be able to reach the moon.
April 6th, 2008 at 5:19 pm
Thank You. Thank Your Verymuch.
PS to SNL’rs: http://www.cbsmarketwatch.com has a commentary page. It’s hilarious!!! They got topics like:
How Should Gays Be Treated in America? (RB: Let’s take back the rainbow)
Iraq = Vietnam (RB: No, because Congress once had the balls to defund our military presence & we had to leave while the current congress can only sit in the back seat of government & complain about the grownups who are driving this war).
And my favorite: “If America was occupied would you be willing to fight & die for it?” (RB: By occupied, you mean like the liberals are now in Congress?)
April 6th, 2008 at 8:30 pm
I wondered where my wonderful (and always insightful) words on this topic went to - now I know - a computer glitch. . .
HRC lied - what’s new?
Mom had insurance - so she did not need universal/government/hillarycare
No one calls HRC on her lie - what’s new?
When are the people going to wake up that none of these 3 candidates has a long or clear history of being truthful to the very people they are supposed to be ‘caring about.’
Hey if Ms Bachtel’s story is a lie (meant to hammer home to the stupid masses that the US really, truly needs gov run healthcare) - could it possibly be that there are NOT 40 million uninsured in America? Might not that be a lie too?
April 6th, 2008 at 9:22 pm
wardmama4
“When are the people going to wake up that none of these 3 candidates has a long or clear history of being truthful”
Definitely with you there. The Senate has become a elitist club where they get rich quick at the expense of the little people. And now Senators are all we have to choose from. The only thing I hope to get out of this election is enough people will realize that Washington’s interest are completely self-serving today. They know what’s best for us no matter how strongly we disagree. The real cherry would be if people also realized what idiots, on all the issues, they are. When was the last time Washington actually solved a major issue in this nation? Oh yeah, that stimulus package? LMAO
April 6th, 2008 at 10:43 pm
“I wondered where my wonderful (and always insightful) words on this topic went to - now I know - a computer glitch. . .”
wardmama, I guess we entered the Matrix…………….all of a sudden, POOFF and eight hours disappeared. I wonder if there were any casualties. LOL
“The Senate has become a elitist club…..”
When are we, the American people, going to vote these old dinosaurs out of office?
April 6th, 2008 at 10:53 pm
http://www.mydailysentinel.com.....news00.prt
“A family member said Friday that Bachtel was insured through her restaurant job, and had been hospitalized at Ohio State University Hospital for a week at the time of her death. At no time, the family says, was she ever sent home without necessary treatment. If she had been, they would have paid for her care.”
April 6th, 2008 at 11:04 pm
http://mydailysentinel.com/art.....news01.prt
““We reviewed the medical and patient account records of this patient,” said Rick Castrop, chief executive officer of the O’Bleness Health System. “There is no indication that she was ever denied medical care at any time, for any reason. We clearly reject any perception that we ever denied any care to this young woman.”
“Any implication that O’Bleness Memorial Hospital or River Rose Obstretrics and Gynecology were involved in denying care is definitely not true,” Castrop added. “Our policy is to provide medically necessary care regardless of our patients’ ability to pay for services. We implore the Clinton campaign to immediately desist from repeating this story.””
April 6th, 2008 at 11:07 pm
texaspsue
“When are we, the American people, going to vote these old dinosaurs out of office?”
My personal belief is we won’t vote them out of office. The media’s misinformation is effective on too high a number. Also, the corruption of the voting process is getting too large to ignore. It would be great if we marched up to capital hill and told everyone to get the f*ck out but when you can’t even ask people to make an informed vote, I don’t see them going through all that trouble. The truth is, I don’t know.
You don’t have to be cynical by nature to eventually get there. Sometimes there is good reason.
April 7th, 2008 at 12:07 am
Reality Bytes says… “In an effort to “consider the environment” I would like to suggest that we save paper & ink by reporting when Mrs. Clinton has told the truth instead of lied (again).”
Now that’s funny!
April 7th, 2008 at 12:14 am
Now that’s funny!
Provided you’re not sitting there, this November, watching Bill blow his Goddamn saxophone at a victory party (I remember watching him do so in 1992).
Trivia question for you Noyz: What song did he get up and play ?
April 7th, 2008 at 12:23 am
What’s news is that the Clinton’s are being called liars by the media! Any media! Like Bob Dylan used to say “The Times they are a’ CHANGIN!”
April 7th, 2008 at 12:15 pm
Lipstick maybe it is a sign at just how low the NYTs has gone that it printed this (in the back) of the Sunday section - I mean their cir is down - exactly who reads it - and on a Sunday who bothers with the back pages of any section? Which is probably what their intention was, to be able to ‘claim’ they reported on it (fair and balanced) while making it as obscure and probably unnoticed as possible (just in case Her Royal Clinton actually does win the Nomination). Another typical liberal trick - cover all bases when and where possible. Unless it involves GWB - then it is all out with all guns - who is going to ever care or notice?
April 7th, 2008 at 4:27 pm
DW asks… “Trivia question for you Noyz: What song did he get up and play ?”
You got me DW. Being as I didn’t watch it live because I never thought Arsenio Hall was all that funny ( ruff, ruff, ruff, ruff) and I damn sure didn’t want to see Bill Clinton as blower or blowee. And, the only clip I’ve ever seen of that “historical” moment was about three seconnds long. I was never very good at “Name That Tune”.
April 7th, 2008 at 6:18 pm
OK, as a former resident of Ohio, a former pregnant uninsured resident of Ohio (none of those anymore), You don’t get turned away, even for pre-natal care. I owe the government a lot of money (which come April 15th I’m making a payment on) for my high-risk prenatal care and delivery.
There IS universal healthcare in this country for those poor minimum wage earners. It’s called Medicaid, and it’s better than the HMO I’m on now.