2 minutes of Rick Scott's Columbia/HCA fraud testimony, courtesy Alex Sink.

madfloridian

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Wed Oct-20-10 11:57 AM
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2 minutes of Rick Scott's Columbia/HCA fraud testimony, courtesy Alex Sink.

Edited on Wed Oct-20-10 12:00 PM by madfloridian

Run time: 02:00
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIYad3TvY6Q

Posted on YouTube: October 19, 2010
By YouTube Member: AlexSinkFlorida
Views on YouTube: 1892

Posted on DU: October 20, 2010
By DU Member: madfloridian
Views on DU: 1639

From the video link:

"Here is never-before-seen footage of Rick Scott during a deposition in an anti-trust lawsuit against his former company Columbia/HCA Health. Scott's company was fined a record $1.7 billion on charges of Medicare fraud. Despite being a lawyer and being CEO of one of the nation's largest hospital chains, Scott evades answers to even the most basic questions. If Scott won't answer questions when under oath, how can we expect him to be honest with us?"

Be sure to read the comments after the article about this at the Palm Beach Post blog.

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Alex Sink�s campaign released a Clinton-esque video of her GOP opponent Rick Scott�s deposition in a 1995 lawsuit, one of several against his former hospital chain Columbia/HCA.

In the two-minute clip of the two-hour video of the deposition, Scott repeatedly answers the interrogator�s questions with questions, including this response when asked about a deal he allegedly struck with an El Paso doctor.

Here is more about Rick Scott from a few months ago. I still find it hard to believe how he skyrocketed to any lead at all.

Rick Scott and HCA

Understandably, money was very important to Scott. He liked to pinch pennies. I remember he boasted to me about the old clunker of a car that he drove for years.. The frugality carried over the Columbia/HCA�s hospitals. �Gloves rip easily,� complained hospital workers in Florida. In California, some nurses protested �filthy conditions� and being �stretched to the limit as the hospital slashed the ratio of nurses to patients�

�I sometimes had to watch 72 patients heart monitors at a time,� one nurse reported. �I was told, either do it, or there�s the door.� In Indianapolis nurses complained to state authorities that babies in the neonatal unit were left unattended for as long as three hours.

Scott�s goal: to lay claim to 25 percent of the nation�s hospitals. He felt the country had too many hospitals, and was hoping for a shakeout that would cut the number in half, leaving Columbia with a larger slice of what was left. To be sure, excess capacity was a problem in some parts of the country, but Scott�s solution was chillingly Darwinian. In his vision of the future, the hospitals most likely to succumb to competition would be �teaching hospitals and children�s hospitals��institutions where operating costs are highest. His business plan left no room for unprofitable hospitals that nonetheless serve vital needs. Meanwhile, within HCA Scott was known as a bully. �I never witnessed such an extent of demeaning, debasing and devaluing behavior as I personally experienced at Columbia,� one administrative director told the New York Times

But if you brought in the money, you were rewarded handsomely. Internal hospital records would later show that hospital executives were paid enormous bonuses, not for reducing infections or lowering mortality rates, but for meeting financial targets such as �growth in admissions and surgery cases.� In 1995 one-fourth of Columbia�s administrators won bonuses equaling 80 percent of their salaries�or more. When bonuses become that large, some critics charge, they no longer function simply as incentives. They invite fraud. Scott also did his best to avoid needy patients, questioning whether hospitals should throw their doors open to one and all. �Do we have an obligation to provide health care for everybody? Where do we draw the line? Is any fast-food restaurant obliged to feed everyone who shows up?