Lies: Ohio Hospital is Hillary’s New Bosnia

April 8, 2008

By Neel Shah, Radar Online

On Saturday, the New York Times reported that a sob story Clinton had been repeating on the campaign trail—that of an uninsured pregnant lady who lost her baby and died herself after she couldn't pay $100 for treatment in an Ohio hospital—is not true and was never even checked for authenticity. Just as troubling, though, is that the events as Clinton's team tells them are actually illegal, which Hillary, as architect of the $110 billion "American Health Choices Plan," should presumably know.

A spokesperson for the Ohio Hospital Association tells Radar that "Federal law requires that hospitals treat patients in an emergency situation regardless of whether or not they can pay." The spokesperson adds that, "[A]ccording to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, a woman who was pregnant and complaining of difficulty with her pregnancy would at the least be brought in and screened in the emergency department. She definitely would not be turned away because she didn't have $100."

In Clinton's fable, a lady is turned away from a hospital twice after complaining of pregnancy complications. She is finally admitted on the third go-around, but neither she nor the baby can be saved.

The chief executive at O'Bleness Memorial Hospital in Athens, Ohio, where the incident occurred, has already issued a statement asking Clinton to "immediately desist from repeating the story." A spokesperson for the hospital said Clinton's camp never got in touch regarding the course of events.

Clinton's spokesperson said an attempt was made to vet the story (we don't know what constitutes an "attempt" given that no phone call was ever made), but that "if the hospital claims it did not happen that way, we respect that." Clinton only decided to tell the story after hearing it from an Ohio sheriff, who himself heard it secondhand last August from some "close relatives" to Trina Bachtel, the woman in question. In short, Clinton is apparently basing the talking points of her purported area of expertise on intel gleaned from a game of telephone.

According to one Clinton insider, the slip-up is indicative of larger problems that have plagued Hillary. "Winning campaigns just don't make mistakes like that—or rather to the point, they don't get caught," the source tells Radar. "It's a small gaffe that points to bigger issues."

You'd sort of expect Hillary to know these things, rather than passing off the story as representative of some shortcoming in America's health care system. But then again, she did hear it from a local sheriff who heard it secondhand from the relatives of the actual victim.

Source: Radar Online

Posted by Justin Thyme · Filed Under Commentary, Editorials/Opinion, Hillary Clinton, Hillary Lies

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Lies: Ohio Hospital is Hillary’s New Bosnia

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