John Brodniak: The Sob Story That Isn’t

03 Dec, 2009 by Melissa Clouthier

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What do liberals do when they lack substance or lose the argument on the merits? They resort to the Compelling Life (or in this case dying) Story. It’s like the world is one long After-School Special to leftists–all weeping tears and make-it-better-actions by government.

The only problem is that these stories are often bogus. Michelle Malkin exposes the latest leftist tear jerker as a fraud. Really, it’s not a surprise. Here’s the story:

Today, I did something that Pulitzer Prize-winning NYTimes columnist Nick Kristof apparently didn’t do: I talked to a spokesman at the Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland, Oregon.

I called them up after OHSU’s Dr. Johnny Delashaw left a comment about Kristof’s piece spotlighting the horrible plight of John Brodniak, an Oregon man with a neurological condition that he says no one would treat.

Kristof used Brodniak’s plight to argue for universal health care, decry Brodniak’s deadly lack of insurance (even though he got Medicaid coverage in August), and lambaste doctors for refusing to treat Brodniak due to low reimbursements.

Well, OHSU confirmed for me two things:

1) OHSU is a safety-net hospital not far from where Brodniak lives. The hospital accepts all Medicaid patients and would not turn Brodniak away.

Okay, are you ready for Number 2?

2) Brodniak is a patient at OHSU – and has been a patient there for the past three weeks.
In other words, at the time Kristof’s article was published this past Sunday, Brodniak was already being treated and cared for by some of the best neurologists in the country!

So the patient has coverage and care. Hmmm… Will the writer of the story write a correction? Oh no. He’s from the New York Times. The Times is right even when it’s wrong.

Expect more of these sob stories from the Mainstream media as they try to help the President and Congress get their socialist agenda passed. Just keep a skeptical eye…or at least read conservative bloggers willing to do the fact checking the media won’t do because it doesn’t serve the narrative.