Clinton Hospital Story May Actually Be True

ABC's Political Punch:

The New York Times had a real attention-grabbing story over the weekend indicating that Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY, had been irritating an Ohio hospital by telling a false story about a poor, pregnant woman denied health care.

"The hospital said, 'Well, you don't have insurance,'" Clinton said. "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."

Read the whole story: ABC's Political Punch

Comments

[LeftLeaner]

Why insert the word "MAY" be true?

Just can't give this woman credit for anything, can you?

[sturgis54]

Good lord... how hard will Tapper and other MSM apologists work to put lipstick on this turd? Come on, Jake. Politicians who have a reputation for shading the truth to make political points are in no position to argue that what they say is "fundamentally true." The American people don't need you sitting around thinking of ways we could torture her words long and hard enough to provide them with a glimmer of truth. What are you -- her press agent? That's simply not good enough. How's about if HRC tried sticking to the actual, honest-to-god, truth and nothing but the truth for a while? How refreshing that would be. The American people need journalists who will honestly report on every single time she and the other major candidates don't meet that simple standard; not a bunch of folks who sit around trying to come up with scenarios under which lies and half truths aren't supposed to matter.

[RenStimpy]

OFFICIAL APOLOGY FROM OLBERMAN AND MITCHEL

"...umm...­err..uh ... gulp...nev­er mind"

signed
Keith Olberman
Andrea Mitchel

[KDH]

Where's Chris Matthew's apology? LOL

[LeftLeaner]

I'd like to see the story posted stating that the STORY IS in FACT ABSOLUTELY TRUE.

Is that too much too ask, HuffPost?

[SenorBob]

Yes, it is too much to ask because it is NOT TRUE. So far we've heard three different versions of the same story, and yet none of them match up. The deputy said she died because she was misdiagnosed. The aunt said she was never turned away from any hospital. She chose not to go to the first one because she didn't have $100. Hillary's version? The woman was turned away because she didn't have insurance. Because of that she died.

[SanityNowPlease]

You gotta chuckle when it is news that Hillary MAY have actually told the TRUTH! Good Lord. If that doesn't speak volumes about the senator's utter lack of integrity, what else do you need?

[northeast73]

What makes it news is that the OBAMAMEDIA decided to call her a liar w/out knowing for sure.....t­hey should be embarrassed.

[LeftLeaner]

Theyir loathing and contempt FAR exceeds their professional ethics.

[LeftLeaner]

I think the question you SHOULD be asking is:

Why is everyone so intent on digging so deep to FIND something on her - especially before the big one in PA?

That is the question?

[SanityNowPlease]

seems I have wandered in to the clintonian blogosphere. Got news for you gals and guys: don't have to dig very deep for clinton gaffs/miss­peaks/lies­/inconsist­encies. she and her hoard forget to bury it deep enough. you'll probably disagree.

President Barack Obama. I just love the sound of that!

[Steamboater]

Huff Post is so quick to jump the gun on anything to defame Clinton. If they had done their homework, this wouldn't have become such a cause celebre.

[FreedomLoverX]

EVIDENCE that it MAY be true?

How pathetic, that we now have to contemplate if anything Hillary says MAY be true. Here is a truth: Hillary is a non-stop, pathological LIAR. She is a LIAR. That she may occasionally say something true, is a ridiculous attempt to distract from the FACT that she is a perpetual LIAR. That is the irony of this piece. Not only is she a LIAR, but she is a dangerous LIAR!

"Zeifman fired Hillary from the committee staff and refused to give her a letter of recommendation – one of only three people who earned that dubious distinction in Zeifman’s 17-year career.

Why?

'Because she was a liar,' Zeifman said in an interview last week. 'She was an unethical, dishonest lawyer. She conspired to violate the Constitution, the rules of the House, the rules of the committee and the rules of confidenti­ality.'"

[RenStimpy]

ANOTHER FINE EXAMPLE OF CONCLUSION JUMPING

Zeifman DID NOT FIRE CLINTON. http://facts.hillaryhub.com/
He just "wished he had to power to do so"....as if

now it would be your turn to practice contrition

[mcnairbo]

Please, just take a day off and say nothing rather than miring yourself deaper in your own muck O-bot..

[lemonv]

As you can see in this youtube video, the Obama campaign are also prone to misleading statements and misconceptions which could be interpreted as lies and outright lies, too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgEHcDj2oPo

and now, lets hear a word from the Obama fan(atics)? for their defence of the annointed one.

[clbrune]

Nice that Obama's media outlet buries this.

When O'Bleness hospital said "it wasn't us", HuffingtonObamaPost had a banner headline that "CLINTON LIED."

When it turns out she didn't, they whisper "well, maybe she didn't."

[bish66]

I second that! People are fast when it comes to crucify her, but when it is time to apologize, they have lots of important excuses.

[vsign]

clbrune

It makes me sad for the American voter. We want good information as the basis for good discussion.

Sometimes I feel like I'm on a Republican site. Bad information and bad discussion.

Am I alone?

[Mattie]

no, this used to be a great site to come to, I've been posting here for almost three years. It has become almost unrecognizable since Iowa. I can't believe the hate here, it makes the right wing loons look normal.

[pilotinfla]

The Clinton campaign has already backed off from claims related to this story so one should accept their admission that the story is not true. Perhaps the Clinton zombies are still looking for support for the bogus "sniper fire" incident as well.

[KDH]

Clinton's version of the facts, were wrong. But not the premise of the story itself was true.

[KDH]

OOOOps! I meant: "But the premise of the story itself was true."

[Mattie]

she lied, she lied, I don't care what the family of the women says, I don't care if she died, she lied, she lied! I hate Hillary, she lied. How's that, is that what Obama supporters want to hear. God the politics of hope and change sure are mean spirited. What a friggin joke!

[PioneerKing]

Sen. Clinton did not tell the story as she was told. Sen. Clinton took the story and embellished it to suit her agenda. That is the point!
The abcNews account states “... She told the story imprecisely -- sloppily, even -- but that doesn't make its general point untrue..."
Sen. Clinton is on tape as having clearly stated that “the woman went to the hospital's emergency room twice and was turned away twice because the hospital told the pregnant waitress that they were not taking anymore charity cases and the pregnant waitress would have to pay $100.00 to be seen in the emergency room." Sen. Clinton also said that "the waitress was returned to the same emergency room by ambulance where the baby died," and, "the woman was later flown by airplane to a hospital in
Columbus where she died."
This is a story about the loss of life and the details ARE important.
The way Sen. Clinton tells the story is not the same as she was told and most importantly Sen. Clinton adds and embellishes her version so that it is a gross exaggeration.
There was enough sorrow and tragedy in the story that Sen. Clinton did not need to exaggerate.
Folks in the media go to your footage, as recent as two weeks ago; Sen. Clinton is dressed in a vivid blue jacket on stage where the background is the same shade of blue telling this story.
WORDS MATTER

[clbrune]

The point is there are cases every single day of people getting screwed because private health care is too expensive for regular people to afford.

It costs lives.

That's the point here.

[vsign]

I credit Hillary for trying to let us know that she cares that some of us cannot afford health insurance.

And that she knows it may cost some of us our lives.

I credit her.

[bish66]

Not true, the deputy supported her version of the story. The only thing you can blame her is that she did no extensive research into the matter. Don't we all know stories of people turned away from treatment because they could not pay money upfront or people who could not get a doctor's appointment because they had no or a bad insurance?

This is no Grand Jury, this is a primary. Someone trustworthy tells you a story and you retell it.

BTW, what happened to that Captain of a Rifle company that Obama was talking about during the Texas debate?

[Mattie]

Obama can't even get the story correct on how his father came to America, and these people are screaming about Hillary repeating a story she heard from a reputable source which turns out to be true. What a sad bunch! Win at any cost, destroy anyone who gets in are way. I hope that works well for them in the general.

[peacehappens]

Hillary would not have been able to use the true story because Hillary's schtick is mandates forcing everyone to purchase health insurance so she tells the story about an uninsured woman who dies.

The true story is that the woman had health insurance at the time she became pregnant so it doesn't suit the point Hillary wanted to make about why she would force people to buy insurance. In the true scenario, Hillary's plan would not have helped this woman and neither would Obama's.

What we need is what Kucinich proposed, universal, single payer health care like what Canadians and the French have to use a couple of examples. We actually already have something in place - Medicare.

AP has the story - Bachtel's aunt, Susie Casto of Middleport, said Bachtel, who worked at a pizza parlor, did have health insurance when she and her baby died.
at an earlier time, Bachtel lacked health insurance and ran up unpaid bills when treated at a clinic. she returned for treatment when pregnant, the clinic demanded $100 per visit to help retire the outstanding debt, Bachtel could not afford the fees and she postponed receiving treatment and eventually went to O'Bleness.
Casto said she felt medical professionals did all they could to save Bachtel and her unborn child.

In some cases, Holzer clinics place "credit restrictions" on patients believed to be able but unwilling to pay their bills. That would not apply to patients needing immediate or emergency care, he said."

[TheRealMacDaddy]

Sorry but this story is not true...

Read the account of the woman's Aunt who says it is true and you will see some very gaping holes in the story! Hillary said the woman lost her baby and her life because she was uninsured and didn't have $100 (the meat of the anecdote).

The truth is, the woman was in debt to the local hospital, the past-due debt being paid off in 2005. The hospital said they would require a $100 prepayment for her to get seen in the future. As everyone knows had she went to the local hospital they could not have refused her treatment if she was in distress (it's aganst the Law to refuse treatment for non-payment of previous hospitalizations), especially since she had cleared her debt.

Next point, the woman DID HAVE Health Insurance at the time of her baby being still born and at her passing. She was readily accepted into another hospital and recieved treatment. There was no refusal because of her status, with or without Insurance.

[TheRealMacDaddy]

Cont.

Third, where is her OB/GYN in all of this? Eclampsia (also called Pregnant Toxemia) is a condition that is not normally treated soley through E.R. visits. Her Obstetrician should have been the one who was monitoring her condition and making adjustments to her treatment based on symptomology.

Next, what was the actual cause of Trina Bachtel's death? Was it due to her Eclampsia? Normally the symptoms eclampsia begin to resolve almost immediately after giving birth. Her dealth did not occur until 2 weeks after. Did she have a post-partum infection? Or just by chance and circumstance did her death have nothing at all to do with the delivery, for all we know she might have gotten a cold that developed into pneumonia.

Even in this advanced day and age, women and infants DO die secondary to child birth. It is indeed a rarity now but it does still happen. Sen. Clinton has taken an isolated and tragic incident and without fully looking into the circumstances decided to make political hay with it. A more appropriate approach might have been to ask, where was the breakdown and how can it be fixed. Again she shows she is willing to go off half-cocked.

[TXfemmom]

I am a health care professional and I can tell you that the hositals and things can put up road blocks for care and intimidate people. They don't hesitate to do it all the time.

However, if that person is an illegal alien, believe me, they march up and DEMAND care and they get it. I see citizens put through the ringer to try to get care at our county institutions, whereas the illegals now go to the private hospitals to deliver and walk in without their medical records and that leaes the doctors and the hospitals in a lurch. I know of one case in which an illegal alien had her third baby at a local private hospital and she had so many visitors they had to move her to a private room. Then, with an uncomplicated delivery, she REFUSED to leave the hospital, telling the nurses that she had two children at home, and she wasn't going home till she got enough rest.

Insured citizens were going home 24 hours after uncomplicated deliveries.

[peacehappens]

oh yeah, those lucky minimum wage, uninsured illegals. The millionaires, billionaires and their insurance companies and corporations don't create the problems. And let's not forget the politicians who line their own pockets with your tax dollars and hand out contracts to their friends that get paid with your tax dollars. Your tax dollars that will bail out more Bear Stearns like we protected and helped Neil Bush when he and his cronies stole all the Savings and Loan monies that our parents and aunts and uncles had been saving their whole lives ...

It's that illegal woman who had a baby that is depriving you of ... what exactly? It's those illegals who are causing all these problems ... Hillary will fix that ... she'll make them buy insurance to make the insurance companies richer. That'll really help you and it will make those terrible illegals have to leave the hospital before they are ready, just like your HMO will push you out with stitches and drains in your body. Is that what would satisfy you?

BTW - What's the name of the private hospital where this was woman was permitted to rest?