A doctor’s message for Nick Kristof — and NYTimes readers point out more holes
In response to the NYTimes’ crappiest column on Obamacare ever, which I dissected earlier today, a neurologist in Oregon has posted the following noteworthy and newsworthy comment on columnist Nick Kristof’s blog:
In all due respect, this patient did not come see me. If he had and needed care he would get it. Cavernous hemangiomas have a low bleed rate and are only excised if surgery is low risk. They rarely result in a catastrophic bleed. I have many paitients that are observed with cavernomas rather than surgically excised. Others undergo craniotomy for resection. I suspect this journalist is bending the facts because he has an agenda. The gentleman with the cavernoma is welcome to call my office and I will see him. I would ask that the writers of the New York Times write factual editorials rather than sensationalizing a story. You are not being helpful.
Johnny Delashaw
Professor of Neurological Surgery
Oregon Health Sciences University
Portland Oregon
And from another commenter friendly to Kristof who asks more pertinent policy questions than Kristof did:
I don’t understand why Mr. Brodiak was not directed by an Oregon Health Plan (OHP) caseworker to a hospital that accepts OHP covered patients. I am surprised that Mr. Brodniak could not have surgery at Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) which is the major research hospital in Portland, and I believe it accepts patients with Oregon Health Plan (OHP) insurance under CareOregon. It seems unlikely that they don’t have a salaried neurosurgeon on staff and that this prestigious hospital would not accept this patient? If this is the case, the hospital and physicians should be investigated by OHP.
Have you contacted OHP to determine if ANY neurosurgeons in Oregon see and treat OHP patients? Please contact OHSU and verify that they could not or would not treat Mr. Brodniak. Please write a follow-up article and clarify this situation.
Another commenter adds:
I simply cannot believe that every neurosurgeon in the state of Oregon denied this patient the surgery that he stated was necessary. Before rushing to judgement, I think the public is entitled to all the facts in this case–why didn’t the New York Times interview the neurosurgeons to asertain why surgery may or may not be the best option for this patient?
— Theresa Ryan
And another:
Article says: “With John unable to work, he lost his job — and his insurance coverage. Esther had insurance for herself and for her two children (from a previous marriage) through her job building manufactured homes. But she couldn’t add John to her plan because of his pre-existing condition.”
This is false. The HIPAA Act of 1996, signed by Pres. Clinton, PROHIBITS precisely this type of “pre-existing condition exclusion.” John losing his job is what the law defines as a “qualifying life event,” at which point his wife could have added him to her plan within 30 days of the event WITHOUT any exclusion whatsoever.
This article is just plan wrong — NONE of this had to happen to John, without ANY “health reform.”… See More
And by the way, if this health reform passes, John will be hit with a huge tax penalty, since he can’t afford insurance. And if he can’t pay the penalty, he could go to jail.
— Robert A. Book
And another:
To all those who want the doctors who treat this patient for free:
1. Are farmers “greedy” because there is hunger in this world and they dont give everyone who asks free food? Is everyone who lives in a house “greedy” because there are homeless people who are not allowed to choose a house and demand part of it be given rent-free? The ludicrous nature of these demands to have doctors required to treat patients for free just because they have a serious illness is apparent from these analogies. If the government wants people treated (which they dont since it would cost too much), they would pay the costof the operation rather than undercost (even public utilities get cost plus 3%)…To the commenter who seriously compared pro bono work (where lawyers are actually paid and do not have to pay the hospital) to this surgery, I would recommend you learn more about the legal field…
2. This patient’s story obviously makes no sense and is likely mere propaganda/lack of factchecking by Mr. Kristof. I say this because of the lack of treatment at OHSU (the natural choice for any patient in these circumstances), the lack of surgery after the initial tests/hospitalization (again unlikely and probably indicative this tumor is inoperable), the unfamiliarity with EMTALA rules in the article (no ER can refuse service to ANYONE in this country), etc. I look forward to the eventual retraction in the ombudsman section….
Oh, and another:
My heart goes out to Mr. Brodniak and his family. I feel, though, that there must be more to this story than just what was reported. Academic and teaching hospitals are required by law to take medicaid reimbursement as payment in full, regardless of their customary fees. This is because hospital resident physicians are paid with federal GME funding, not out of the general operating costs of the hospital. Mr Brodniak’s medicaid could be denied by private hospitals which do not have GME funded residents, but not by any of the state or academic hospitals.
— Stephen Minehart
Kristof still hasn’t responded to exposure of all the holes in his piece. And I’m still waiting on a response from Oregon Medicaid officials. I’ll post any updates.
Long on emotionalism. Short on facts. When you’re the Fishwrap of Record, that’s not crap. It’s Pulitzer Prize-level journalism.
***
Where’s that NYTimes “opinion media monitor” when you need him/her?
NYTimes ombudsman Clark Hoyt’s contact info:
Contact
* E-mail: public@nytimes.com
* Phone: (212) 556-7652
* Address: Public Editor
The New York Times
620 Eighth Avenue
New York, NY 10018
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Categories: Health care, New York Times
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It’s also Nobel Prize worthy – right Al?
Propaganda and “jounalism” have nothing in common. Facts mean nothing in propaganda…oops…maybe they are the same.
Retraction? Sure. Good luck with that…
I would love to see somebody write a series of stories about people who were without insurance and yet managed to find the help they needed anyway. In reality, I would wager there are far more of them than actual deaths by poverty.
I’ve come across some people who were pretty much “bottom of the barrel” and I’ve never known anybody who didn’t get the treatments they needed.
That’s my take on this “story”. Seems Mr. Kristof is just another Obama lackey.
The toilet paper of record strikes again. Good thing that Democrat voters are as stupid as a bag of rocks. What would Dem politicians do if this were otherwise???
As the unamed usual liberal troll on this site would ask….”Cite?”
I see that Mr. Kristof has taken time from his Israel bashing to concoct an absurd fantasy of a patient about to die because bad doctors and bad hospitals refuse to treat the patient unless he forks over exorbitant fees. Nick Kristof obviously went searching for a story which would fit into his neat construction of health care. He could not find a story that proved his point so he just bent the facts and wrote about neurosurgery as if he is an expert on the subject. Kristof will answer the critics the same way he does when he is challenged on his virulently antiIsrael views: “I went to Harvard and you didn’t it and I work for the New York Times and you don’t and I am therefore more sophisticated than you are”. Mr. Kristof has a contest in which the winner gets to spend two weeks traveling with him. I can only wonder what second place gets: A month with Mr. Kristof?
In typical liberal-media fashion (ala NPR):
1. Pick a story line or “problem”
2. Identify the target
3. Paint target as heartless
4. Insert one victim of the “problem”
5. List (ad nauseum) all the difficulties the victim suffers, focusing on family, children and economic loss.
6. Conclude situation is near hopeless for victim.
7. Take leap of credibility by directing the readers (listener) that there are millions that are suffering as much as the victim portrayed.
8. Avoid any real numbers or statistics if possible.
Follow just about any story on NPR. The anecdotes pull at the heart strings that are music to a liberal’s ears. “Reporters” like Kristof adapt it to their medium.
It’s not journalism…it’s story-telling.
It would appear the Old Gray Lady has devolved into nothing more than a filthy slut.
Twenty four hours ago I never heard of a Cavernous hemangiomas-the Black Death of the 21st Century- but Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie and the writers of Law and Order will come to our rescue. Medical degree? We don’t need no stinkin’ medical degree. Just go to Star Bucks and pick up a copy of the NY Times or watch Law and Order and you will be saved!
Isn’t ObamaCare grand?
But most of us use plastic bags for fish now I suspect Nick Kristof and the Times serve no useful purpose at all
Guess the NY Times has another Jason Blair problem (probably a lot of them).
Nick Kristof should be fired. Anyone that goes to this length to write or publish such irresponsible non-sense has no business being involved in any form of journalism. This sort of crap is beneath even the likes of Perez Hilton.
And after reading some of the comments on the NYT site on this article, it sickens me that these gullible people are Americans. They’re actually THANKING Nick Kristof for writing the article.
Nauseating.
Two words: Jayson Blair
Nick is another example of the dumbing down of America. Quite possibly the product of a good public education.
Don’t bother to check the facts, just print something sensational to get your name in lights. And if it happens to not be true, well, no harm done, right?
What an ass.
Retraction?! Ha! You may need the forceps for that!
strucked out, what the?
all the above are right on. perhaps this is why thinking america has stopped reading this bs. sure, east side philanthropist housefraus giving away their husbands hard earned money and west side college profs still read this horsecrap, but people who have jobs and lives know they can’t get the truth from this rag, and it isn’t going to change, so good riddance to bad trash.
Give this guy a “Pulitzer Prize” for fiction.
I suppose it was in the opinion section which makes it okay to lie in the NYT. Of course, the Op-Ed section of the NYT starts on page 1 and concludes on the last page of the rag…
“Pravda on the Hudson” as opposed to “Pravda on the Potomac.”
You just hit the wrong button. As long as you weren’t manning a missile silo…….
I can not remember the movie but I do recall the line:
“One word we NEVER want to hear in NORAD is OOPS.”
The simple fact is, Kristof’s article is bunk.
– You left out the most important step, #9: Use steps 1-8 to claim that only a massive government takeover can solve the situation.
What is the difference between Kristof’s style of “journalism” and Andrew Sullivan’s? I’m being serious.
The key difference is that Andrew Sullivan’s dementia is AIDS-related. I am not certain of the cause of Kristof’s dementia…
While health care in America has its problems, not providing help to the uninsured isn’t one of them. I spent six hours in the hospital Emergency Department yesterday waiting for the staff to find a bed for the patient I had transported. A significant part of crowding is from patients seeking “free” medical care. Is the care they are seeking a medical emergency? I am not in a position to answer. I can say, however, that nobody is told they can’t receive care because they don’t have insurance.
Meanwhile, my ambulance, as well as about a dozen other ambulances, were out of service for new jobs while we were waiting with out patients to be assigned a bed.