No Comment - from Whittington's Doc. when asked about Alcohol Test

[stop the bleeding]

Doctors at the hospital where the 78-year-old man accidently shot by the vice president was readmitted yesterday held a press conference and provided some details on his medical condition.

Texas lawyer, Harry Whittington, is recovering from a 'mild' heart attack caused by bird shot that the doctors have been unable to move near his heart.

While he's still in an intensive care unit, the doctors insisted that Whittington was recovering, and that it was normal to keep watch over a patient in such circumstances.

~snip~

The last question of the press conference was whether or not Whittington's blood alcohol had ever been tested. The response: "No comment."


http://rawstory.com/news/2005/Press_conference_on_condition_of_lawyer_0215.html


add in these 2 threads - bling bling!!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x428567 post# 1 and 46

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x426783

[Cooley Hurd]

1. You know what they say about "no comment..."

...it's a good as saying "yep, and he was shitfaced."

[Dunvegan]

2. This is one report I'm keenly interested in, HIPPA-be-damned.

However, without a lawsuit, it's doubtful we shall see it.

[Warpy]

3. Docs and nurses have been gagged by HIPAA

which is a feel good measure at best because our recods are now being transcribed in India, which has NO medical privacy laws. However, if the doctor had answered that question without Whittington's written approval, he could have been fired and sued.

[unblock]

7. hipaa sucks!

mostly it means that mrs. pregnant unblock has to make all the medical phone calls herself, because the doctors and staff won't talk to me because i'm merely the father and the guy paying for it, i'm not the patient.

in fact, mrs. unblock can't even get lab results from labcorp, because THEY can't even tell the patient, they can only tell the doctor who ordered the tests!

[catabryna]

11. Mrs. Pregnant Unblock...

merely needs to sign a peace of paper giving you permission to get the info... my husband had to sign one for me so I could deal with his cancer related bills. It was fine by me.

[unblock]

15. true, but there are different doctors and providers

and then we switched insurance companies....

all a big palava.

[catabryna]

17. Well, that does suck!

My best to you and Mrs. Pregnant Unblock! :-)

[efhmc]

12. Lab workers have NEVER been allowed to give results to the patient

unless specific instructions from the dr. say so and even then one must come in, and sign for them. No Dr. would ever give out lad results to the press unless the patient allows it.

[rodeodance]

4. oh my.

[ThoughtCriminal]

5. Hmmm

Hard to claim that this is not disclosed to protect patient privacy, when they are willing to talk about other details of condition and treatment.

[Stephanie]

6. if they find alcohol in Whittenburg's blood they can blame him more

Since Cheney didn't take an alcohol test they'll be able to say that Whittenburg was impaired and that's why it's all his fault.

[Sammy Pepys]

8. Eh....

I don't think the doctors need to be giving that much info away about things like that. Let the cops worry about it.

[WI_DEM]

9. What about Cheney's blood alcohol?

[efhmc]

14. Now that is the test I would like to see but since it would have been

taken 12-14 hours after the fact, that would not be a valid test. Most accident forms ask about alcohol consumption. Do you think cheney might LIE about that?

[DemInDistress]

10. if that were you or me we'd be taking blood and urine tests

before the police let us loose..but if you dick the prick cheney a VP well you get some perks..

[buckfush1979]

13. No kidding

He's a damn drunk and they didn't even both to sniff the guy's breath? Give me a break here. What's funny is that every conservative blog is defending this guy like he is some upstanding citizen. I went through technorati and I only found 1 conservative site that even thought this might be odd. http://conservativerevolution.com/?p=689 This guy is a real asshole though on the rest of his site. How pathetic are these people? The Vice President shoots someone and people actually defend him? I can't believe this. I am so angry right now.

[DemInDistress]

16. LIKE MINDS THINK ALIKE

WELCOME TO DU !!!:hi: :hi: :thumbsup: :thumbsup: