Rick Scott, Florida Gubernatorial Candidate, Assailed By St. Petersburg Times In Editorial

The St. Petersburg Times hammers Florida gubernatorial hopeful Rick Scott today in an editorial that describes him as "deceitful" and "heartless." The editors accuse Scott of "shamelessly exploiting the tragedy of a family of a severely disabled young woman" in order to "burnish" his pro-life bona fides.

Here's your background: In 1990, Karla Miller gave birth to a a baby girl, who, because of "complications during labor," was born thirteen weeks premature and "unable to breathe or circulate blood." The parents asked the hospital to not take measures to prolong the suffering infant's life, but the hospital disregarded their wishes.

Upon birth, Sidney had oxygen pumped into her lungs through a tube down her throat, a procedure that can cause complications. Months later she had brain surgery at an age deemed too young for anesthesia. Today Sidney has brain damage, cerebral palsy, seizures and blindness. She requires constant care.

Scott uses this case to proclaim himself a "prolife leader." In referring to Sidney's case he said, "We lost a $43 million lawsuit because we saved the life of a child that the parents didn't want us to." Scott's hospital company had bought Women's Hospital as part of a chain in 1994. As CEO of Columbia/HCA, Scott decided to continue to fight the Millers' lawsuit. Eventually a jury awarded the Millers $43 million to cover Sidney's expenses, but the verdict was overturned on appeal.

Hooray. Rick Scott went to the wall to lose a gigantic lawsuit for the sake of a child who's now demonstrably worse off after the hospital disregarded her parents' wishes. (And now the verdict that would have allowed the parents to care for their child for the rest of her life, has been overturned on appeal, so: Yahtzee!)

Of course, Scott is best known for being the head of Hospital Corporation of America, which had to pay a $1.7 billion fraud settlement after it was found that the company had stolen taxpayer money by fraudulently "upcoding" Medicare billing codes.

The editorial comes at a pretty fortuitous time for Scott's GOP primary opponent, Florida AG Bill McCollum, who is perilously close to running out of money. McCollum is looking more and more reliant on public financing with each passing day. On the other hand, Scott is one of the 2010 campaign season's top self-funders. (Go figure that one of the country's most celebrated fraudsters is also staggeringly wealthy! Welcome to the rest of the days of your lives, America.)

RELATED:
Rick Scott's deceitful, heartless ploy [St. Petersburg Times]

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Comments

[Lucky Alive]

11:04 PM on 07/15/2010

This slime pretends he did not know about all the $ Billions of fraud right under his nose. That proves he is either stupid or incomptent or both. And the situation in this article demonstrates his complete lack of judgement and his desire to skrew (sic) anyone for the sake of his own bank balance.

[bushlies]

08:11 PM on 07/14/2010

JEB'S fingerprints are all over this clown's run for Governor and the Marco Rubio Senate campaign. If either one succeeds, expect L'il Bro to use similar tactics in 2012 or 2016 to put himself in the White House,

[ennis438]

07:44 PM on 07/14/2010

This punk, a perfect example of the current dirty GOP, could care less about this girl. All he cares about is his right wing goon squad supporters, and if this means discomfort for this girl and thousands of others,that is fine.

[BrendanInBoston]

04:36 PM on 07/14/2010

Jason, I'm a big fan of yours, and a good liberal and all, but "demonstrably worse off?" Than dead? Really? That's kind of a tough sell, even with the girl's suffering.

[Fattonecat]

02:38 PM on 07/14/2010

He'd make the perfect concentration camp commandant in the movies. Go into acting Rick !!

[msgirlintn]

11:49 AM on 07/14/2010

I am not the least bit surprised to read this about Scott. Afterall, his former boss at HCA was Bill Frist. Yes that Bill Frist that diagnosed Terri Schivo and tried to interfere with her care in FL.

What Jason didn't mention was that Bill Frist and family own HCA that had to pay the 1.7 billion for Medicare Fraud.

Did I happen to mention that HCA is the largest for-profit healthcare system in America?

[farmilyman]

11:28 AM on 07/14/2010

I don't understand why Florida declined so fast. Jeb Bush must have put something in the water to make the people crazy.

[msgirlintn]

11:50 AM on 07/14/2010

familyman,

Rick Scott isn't from FL. He was in Nashville during his stay at HCA and left town in shame.

[GraphicMatt]

01:38 PM on 07/14/2010

There is nothing in the water down here (except maybe sulfer.) Rick Scott is a slime! Jeb Bush was a slime as well! Let's hope the rest of the state figures out just how slimey he is soon.

[CarolinaYankee]

10:54 AM on 07/14/2010

This man seems to use the pain of suffering of others for his own gain..Nice guy NOT
Looks like Florida has about as much choice as Arizona this year..it is a pick your poison election, no good choices.

[Number1Dem]

10:52 AM on 07/14/2010

I'm a Central FL resident and all I see is the mud slinging done by Rick Scott and Bill McCollum. I'm hoping they will cancel each other out and Alex Sink will be elected. Unfortunately I've not see any ads for Sink and worry that most Floridians don't even know she exists, let alone running for Governor.

[GraphicMatt]

01:46 PM on 07/14/2010

I'm in south Florida and I have not seen anything from Alex Sink either. I did think Scott's TV spots were slimy though and rather damaging to himself.

[Tsar Bomba]

09:39 AM on 07/14/2010

Rick Scott has a cleaver slogan: "Let's get to work." What he is really saying is: You shut up and get back to work.

[Tsar Bomba]

09:31 AM on 07/14/2010

Tbaggers talk a lot about tyranny. The tyranny I see is being forced on us by the religious right who have no business interfering with people's privacy. Yet the tyrants who force their views on others know the church itself can't do what they want, so they thrash the Constitution and use the government to force their will on others.

[huffyposter101]

09:30 AM on 07/14/2010

I pray to God that this guy doesn't end up as Florida's Governor. Not only is he a crook, but he had the nerve to air an ad in South Florida saying that he 100% supports Arizona's immigration law, and is going to implement it.

[GraphicMatt]

01:48 PM on 07/14/2010

I saw that ad as well. He was actually using McCollum's opposition to the Arizona law as the point of the ad. Being against the Arizona law myself I sort of saw that ad as a huge fail for Scott. I pray he does not become our governor as well, but can he really be worse than Jeb was?

[ThomasPaineWeNeedYou]

09:16 AM on 07/14/2010

Heartless cruel greedy and evil what more do you want in a Governor I hope you go progressive Florida.

[kimbanyc]

08:38 AM on 07/14/2010

Now let me see, Scott uses the suffering of others for political gain, strikes fear through lies regarding Health reform and is an all around sleazy character. PERFECT for the GOBP

[looking4wrd]

08:32 AM on 07/14/2010

So, we Floridians that are terrified of having "the good looking bald guy" Scott and "what's his name" McCollum be our govenor need to get behind Alex Sink. Don't know what her platform is? Welcome to the world-wide web. Google her, join her FB, We won't have the right to complain if we just sit back and let things happen. Sink is our best hope for a decent gov.

[GraphicMatt]

01:49 PM on 07/14/2010

I pine for the days when Lawton Chiles and Bob Graham were our governors......