Hillary Health Care Story Questioned
by SusanG
Sat Apr 05, 2008 at 08:53:09 AM PST
Sigh. Another Hillary Clinton stump speech story comes under scrutiny for truthiness:
Ohio Hospital Contests a Story Clinton Tells
By DEBORAH SONTAG
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.
Are there really not enough honest to God nightmare health care stories out there that you have to make 'em up? And what does this say about the Clinton operation's ability to verify information--a minimal requirement, one would think, for the position of commander-in-chief?
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