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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: anuninsured 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.
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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 hospitaladministrators said Friday that Ms. Bachtel was under the care of an obstetrics practice affiliated with the hospital, that she was never refused treatment andthat 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'BlenessHealth 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 trybut 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 aconversation 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 becausehe 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 returnphone 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 $100upfront.
"I mentioned this story to Senator Clinton, and she apparently took to it and liked it," Deputy Holman said, "and one of her aides saidshe'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 inour 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 wasexperiencing difficulty with her pregnancy. "The hospital said, 'Well, you don't have insurance.' She said, 'No, I don't.' Theysaid, '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 thenurses 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 affiliatedRiver Rose Obstetrics and Gynecology practice, Ms. Weiss said.
The hospital would not provide details about the woman's case, citing privacy concerns; she died two weeks after the stillbirth at a medical center inColumbus.
"We reviewed the medical and patient account records of this patient," said Mr. Castrop, the health system's chief executive. Any implicationthat the system was "involved in denying care is definitely not true."
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 stumpspeeches 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.
This is getting out of hand.
Blog
The Caucus
The latest political news from around the nation. Join the discussion.
Candidate Topic Pages
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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 hospitaladministrators said Friday that Ms. Bachtel was under the care of an obstetrics practice affiliated with the hospital, that she was never refused treatment andthat 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'BlenessHealth 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 trybut 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 aconversation 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 becausehe 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 returnphone 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 $100upfront.
"I mentioned this story to Senator Clinton, and she apparently took to it and liked it," Deputy Holman said, "and one of her aides saidshe'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 inour 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 wasexperiencing difficulty with her pregnancy. "The hospital said, 'Well, you don't have insurance.' She said, 'No, I don't.' Theysaid, '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 thenurses 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 affiliatedRiver Rose Obstetrics and Gynecology practice, Ms. Weiss said.
The hospital would not provide details about the woman's case, citing privacy concerns; she died two weeks after the stillbirth at a medical center inColumbus.
"We reviewed the medical and patient account records of this patient," said Mr. Castrop, the health system's chief executive. Any implicationthat the system was "involved in denying care is definitely not true."
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 stumpspeeches 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.
This is getting out of hand.
