VA confiscates reporter’s equipment after he interviews a veteran about shoddy care.
VA confiscates reporter’s equipment after he interviews a veteran about shoddy care.
On Tuesday, WAMU reporter Eric Schultz attempted to interview Tommie Canady, a veteran from Maryland, about the poor treatment he said he was receiving from the VA. In the middle of the interview at a VA hospital in Washington, DC, a VA communications specialist named Gloria Hairston, “along with two other employees and four armed security guards, stopped Schultz and wouldn’t let him leave until he handed over his [recording] equipment.” A group of veterans stood nearby during the exchange:
One of those veterans, an amputee in a wheelchair, approached Schultz and asked him for his phone number.
“I started to give it to him and then the woman [Hairston] became irate, she said you can’t give him your phone number. You have to give me all of your equipment or I’m going to get ugly. She used the phrase ‘get ugly,’” Schultz says,
Like any good reporter, Schultz stood his ground and called his boss for direction. Longtime newsman Jim Asendio is the news director for WAMU.
“I told him to give them the flash card and get out of there,” Asendio says. “I didn’t want this to get out of hand.”
“What I mostly feel bad about is Mr. Canady,” Schultz told WTOP reporter Mark Segraves. “He was trying to tell his story, he has an amazing story and he was denied a chance to tell his story to the media because of these tactics.” ThinkProgress contacted the VA but has yet to get a response.
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Oh Gloria, what have you done…
April 10th, 2009 at 7:34 pmOh my god! COVER UP! Wasn’t there some inapropriate over reaching of authority taking place here too?
April 10th, 2009 at 7:38 pmMs Hairston’s next appearance will be on “hotjobs.com”.
April 10th, 2009 at 7:39 pmGutless little prick should be in a brig, after telling the bureau-cop “shoot me, you fascist whore.”
If he gave ‘em his stuff, he’s no better than a collaborator…
Why isn’t he telling his story from confinement?
cuz his editors wouldn’t back him up, and he knows it, probably…
April 10th, 2009 at 7:42 pmSecretary Shinseki, please correct this obvious wrong at once.
April 10th, 2009 at 7:42 pmNow do you believe you live in a police state run the Military Industrial Complex that also controls the MSM?
I don’t need more proof here…
April 10th, 2009 at 7:43 pmMs Hairston,
Those who have nothing to hide, hide nothing.
Resign immediately.
April 10th, 2009 at 7:43 pmLet’s snowball this onto Secretary Shinseki’s desk.
April 10th, 2009 at 7:43 pmLord Obama’s Administration seems to have a touch of the Royal Power of Bullying in their Veterans Administration…
Ever so slightly O/T:
April 10th, 2009 at 7:47 pmWe need to arm our cargo ships. We also need our Navy to go into Somali ports and destroy all of the pirates’ speedboats and mother-ships. We need to deal with pirates the way that President Jefferson did some two hundred years ago. We also need to withdraw completely from Afghanistan and Iraq. We need to leave these poor people alone: haven’t we already created enough misery for them? We were never attacked by either the Afghani people or the Iraqi people. On nine-eleven, we were attacked by fifteen Saudis, whose funding went through Dubai and who were aided by the Bush Administration, who rolled out the red carpet for them.
Undoubtedly, Bush holdovers in the V.A.
April 10th, 2009 at 7:48 pmre: those Bush holdovers, start firing their asses, NOW!
April 10th, 2009 at 7:49 pm“Bush holdovers” so terrified of losing their jobs they will do anything, absolutely anything, to try and hang on. Even illegal, unethical, and just plain stupid things…
April 10th, 2009 at 7:51 pmOh Gloria!
April 10th, 2009 at 7:52 pmYour ass is grass.
Do you remember the first amendment? Free speech.
Emphasis is mine. Thanks for the above James. Someday maybe truth will rule the day…someday…..???…maybe….??….
April 10th, 2009 at 7:53 pmOval12345678 aka James K. Sayre Says:
April 10th, 2009 at 7:47 pm
You criticize “Lord Obama,” but then go off on a tangent about invading yet another country and flexing our big American muscles.
Contradict much?
April 10th, 2009 at 7:54 pmStupid is their mantra. That will help identify them so the purge can began. There are a lot of other considerate, non-republican minion types that need a job.
April 10th, 2009 at 7:54 pmOval12345678 aka James K. Sayre Says:
——————————————————————————–
Lord Obama’s Administration seems to have a touch of the Royal Power of Bullying in their Veterans Administration
Don’t try to pin this on the Obama Administration. We wouldn’t have new war veterans if Bush didn’t start these wars! And that’s PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA to you!
April 10th, 2009 at 7:59 pmOk, this is the first time on TP where I feel like you have done a really rotten job reporting a story. You left out a couple of very important facts in your reporting. They are:
1) It is the policy of the VA (and probably HIPPA) that a reporter can’t interview a patient without the patient signing a consent form. This reporter was informed of the requirement and he chose to ignore it.
2) The VA told the reporter he would get his tape back as soon as he presented them with a signed consent form from the patient.
Read the whole story here:
http://www.rcfp.org/newsitems/index.php?i=10699
I don’t see where the VA did anything wrong. They were protecting the privacy of their patient. If the patient really wanted to tell his story to this reporter, then why didn’t he sign a consent form?
April 10th, 2009 at 8:07 pmZooey Lepidoptera Says:
Ms Hairston,
Those who have nothing to hide, hide nothing.
Resign immediately.
Zooey – TP has not given us the whole story. Please see my post above and read the linked article. This woman was following VA policy and probably also HIPPA policy to protect the patient’s privacy.
April 10th, 2009 at 8:08 pmymax Says:
Oh Gloria!
Your ass is grass.
Do you remember the first amendment? Free speech.
There are limits on free speech. The guy was asked to get a signed consent form from the patient before interviewing him and he didn’t do it. Do you really want reporters to be allowed to prowl around the VA going into patients rooms and interviewing them without their consent to get a “hot” story?
Read the linked article I refer to in post 18. TP really blew it on this one.
April 10th, 2009 at 8:11 pmMaybe Fox can deploy Jesse “Woman Hunter” Watters to ‘get the bad guyssahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
Sorry, couldn’t get through it with a straight face…
April 10th, 2009 at 8:14 pmBilbo Hussein Baggins,
Without reading the entire article (I confess), the patient wouldn’t have granted an interview if he thought his privacy was being invaded. Also, it seems like they were interupted mid interview – perhaps he hadn’t signed it yet.
There’s no way the VA is right in this one.
April 10th, 2009 at 8:16 pmfire _ant_chavis says to
Oval12345678 aka James K. Sayre
Don’t try to pin this on the Obama Administration. We wouldn’t have new war veterans if Bush didn’t start these wars! And that’s PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA to you!
Fuc* Head!*
*I thought that was a little better.
April 10th, 2009 at 8:19 pmOval12345678 aka etc.. “Lord Obama’s Administration seems to have a touch of the Royal Power of Bullying in their Veterans Administration…”
This is an absurd bit of prose. And I’m being kind.
If you had any clue about the machinations of government agencies and the ponderousness of their bureaucracies, you would know how long it takes to root out incompetence, waste, and inefficiency.
I am certain that policy changes, reviews, and audits are coming down from the top, and that may be why Gloria freaked out.
May I also suggest a more reader friendly screen name, like Thumping Down the Shoulder with a Less Than Oval Tire.
April 10th, 2009 at 8:20 pmBilbo, I agree with Rich H and I think this was a blatant attempt at a cover up.
April 10th, 2009 at 8:20 pmSounds like Bush still rules! The VA should be standing in front of a Senate Committee Monday and the perpetrators should be drummed out of the government.
April 10th, 2009 at 8:22 pmBilbo Hussein Baggins Says:
Zooey – TP has not given us the whole story. Please see my post above and read the linked article. This woman was following VA policy and probably also HIPPA policy to protect the patient’s privacy.
April 10th, 2009 at 8:08 pm
It’s not the VA policy to behave like a band of goons. If they were actually concerned about their patients, they would not have put on this demonstration of mob tactics.
Sure, the reporter should have gotten the consent form signed, and how long would it have taken for Ms Hairston to simply remind the reporter of that fact, and then stand right there until it was done?
It’s my opinion that the VA was wrong for handling things this way.
April 10th, 2009 at 8:24 pmI wrote my Senator, Ben Cardin, who you gonna write?
April 10th, 2009 at 8:27 pmGloriabusters!
April 10th, 2009 at 8:32 pmI wouldn’t feel too badly for Mr Canady at this point.
By this time next week I am confident that thanks to the soon to be former “VA communications specialist” Ms Hairston, he’ll have the opportunity to “tell his story”, and then some.
Her actions insured that story that was likely to be seen by just a few thousand people, is now going to be seen by practically everyone.
April 10th, 2009 at 8:41 pmThe best way to make sure people spread news is to first ask them not to.
April 10th, 2009 at 8:43 pmI wish I could recommend that one a thousand times, WAYNEBRO.
April 10th, 2009 at 9:14 pmKudos.
Sure the VA does try to protect their patients privacy. Except when the patient himself is about to say something negative regarding his treatment.
All they did was postpone what is going to happen. This vet will give his interview eventually, and the VA will look worse because of what they did. This patient has a right to do the interview and this Nazi female was swelled up with her own form of bureaucratic power. And she brought along her brown shirts to help. Give some people a badge or some tiny bit of authority and they run.
She was right about one thing. She was nasty.
April 10th, 2009 at 10:22 pmand when I say clamer, may I mean calmer and cite typing dyslexia…
April 10th, 2009 at 10:27 pmnoseeum I wish I could give you a +1 for “gloriabusters”. That was beautiful.
Nonetheless, may clamer heads prevail, as they have been under the Obama administration, with exception to the bonus fiasco. Find the truth, take action, move on.
Stop getting panties bunched up before things are settled. Rush Limbaugh is the only asshat that needs to do that.
April 10th, 2009 at 10:28 pmDon’t worry folks the word is already out as many families have told Michelle Obama of these actions. Notice how upset the GOP is with Mrs. Obama as they don’t like her going to soldiers and their families talking about issues. Rep.Issa is in charge of stopping our First Lady and that just wont happen in this life time. President Obama went to the troops on the ground for the truth about what’s really going on. He has set up a department for the soldiers to give information and complaints. No longer will the Generals be able to lie and General Petraeus is one of the biggest liars of them all.
April 10th, 2009 at 10:35 pmWhat an insult to the VETS and my family. My grandfather served in WWII and the Korean War, my uncle served in Vietnam and both have always told me they hated going to the VET Hospital for anything-the health care for service was horrible. My brother and cousin both died in Iraq over a frigging mistake you have no idea how I feel about the Iraq Invasion.
VET REFORMS ARE NEEDED NOW AND OUR TROOPS NEED THE BEST CARE FOR RISKING THEIR LIVES FOR TO PROTECT US.
Gloria Hairston should be slapped and stone.
April 11th, 2009 at 12:14 amafter reading this I really got upset, apologies for my typo.
April 11th, 2009 at 12:15 amI hope that the press jumps all over this.
Whoever ordered armed guards to seize other people’s property is guilty of forceable confinement and armed robbery, and should be charged.
But wait. I forgot. You can commit kidnapping and torture and not get charged as long as you call the victims ‘terrorists’.
April 11th, 2009 at 1:02 amWow, talk about mob mentality. When did this place become inhabited with a mob that didn’t take into account the reality of a situation. If the VA representative told the reporter that he had to have a consent form signed, then why did the reporter ignore this request? And how did that make the VA the bad guy?
If the patient being interviewed wanted the reporter to interview him, then why didn’t he just sign the consent form?
I am disappointed in the regulars here. Somehow you have allowed the mob mentality to take you over.
April 11th, 2009 at 1:22 amI hardly think expressing my own opinion constitutes a mob mentality, Bilbo. No one is ganging up on you, it seems we just don’t agree with you.
April 11th, 2009 at 2:39 amThe VA has needed a complete overhaul for the past 40 years, but nothing ever seems to be done about. Politicians talk a good story, but nothing ever gets done about it. But does anyone else ever notice that the retired commissioned officers never seem to complain about the VA, just the enlisted personnel? I could be wrong that there hasn’t been a retired officer who has complained about VA services.
April 11th, 2009 at 4:27 amBilbo Hussein Baggins
What if the the VA representative waited until she saw who was going to be interviewed all awhile knowing a consent form needed to be signed?
I’m sure the reporter was never told a consent form had to be signed in order to conduct interviews on VETS inside public funded building.
And who are they to decided for the VETS on what interviews they can and can not give????? What a bunch of BULL.
April 11th, 2009 at 6:54 amAnd under exactly WHAT authority did they seize the equipment?
April 11th, 2009 at 10:23 amYou need to remember, the armed “police” forces that guard Federal buildings are mostly the 78- IQ rejects who couldn’t pass the test to be a real Fed.
I’m sure there are exceptions, but certainly rare.
These Cheney -Administration holdovers need to be sent to the Dustbin of history, or at least the unemployment lines.
April 11th, 2009 at 10:24 amThe Bush Nazis live on. Someone should
April 11th, 2009 at 12:02 pmlose their livelihood.
Bilbo is 100% right here. There can be no interview without a HIPAA release form. If the vet was in any way dissatisfied with the article it could be many people’s job if that release isn’t signed.
The real headline here is ‘Reporter with a martyr complex doesn’t think federal health privacy laws apply to him’.
(Oh… and I hate to nitpick after that but Im pretty sure the articl should read ‘WaPo’, not ‘WAMU’.
April 11th, 2009 at 12:16 pmFascism: it’s what makes America unique.
April 11th, 2009 at 12:30 pmbonat Says:
And who are they to decided for the VETS on what interviews they can and can not give????? What a bunch of BULL.
The VA is not deciding who can and cannot be interviewed. They only require that a consent form be signed. There are a lot of government laws regarding patient privacy and HIPPA governs them.
I was once interviewed for a news show. The reporter had me sign a consent form. He told me that he could not legally use my interview without my consent. This is pretty much the same thing.
Why is it that people want to hang the VA without taking into account all the facts?
April 11th, 2009 at 12:44 pmbonat Says:
What if the the VA representative waited until she saw who was going to be interviewed all awhile knowing a consent form needed to be signed?
I’m sure the reporter was never told a consent form had to be signed in order to conduct interviews on VETS inside public funded building.
If you would bother to read the article about this incident, it clearly says the reporter was asked to get a consent form signed before conducting the interview. But, since most people here want to hang the VA, I’m sure you will think that the VA is lying.
They also told the reporter that he can have his tape back once he gets a consent form signed by the patient.
My question is, if this patient was so gung ho to be interviewed, then why didn’t he sign the consent form?
http://www.rcfp.org/newsitems/index.php?i=10699
April 11th, 2009 at 12:47 pmZooey Lepidoptera Says:
I hardly think expressing my own opinion constitutes a mob mentality, Bilbo. No one is ganging up on you, it seems we just don’t agree with you.
What I meant by “mob mentality” is that all the posts before yours were pretty much vilifying the VA. No one seemed to be willing to look a little further into the situation before doing that. I blame that partially on TP for leaving out the important points in their article.
April 11th, 2009 at 12:49 pmdeebaser,
This is rediculous. They we’re interupted mid interview. Perhaps the paper hadn’t been signed yet. Why are you siding with the VA? Everyone knows the problems they’ve been having over the years, especially after Bush thrashed it.
What makes you think that they wouldn’t have just taken the signed consent form, if there had been one? Come on, you guys are nit picking. The show of force was meant to intimidate and end the interview. Do you really think a little bit of ink on a piece of paper would have changed that?
Seriously?
That’s a dream world.
For the record, my father, a Korean war vet was treated at the VA hospital in Long Beach for prostate cancer some 15 years ago and he received excellent care, so it’s not like I have a personal bone to pick. It’s just this is the way things have been run since Bush made the VA totally disfuntional.
April 11th, 2009 at 12:51 pmRich H Says:
deebaser,
This is rediculous. They we’re interupted mid interview. Perhaps the paper hadn’t been signed yet. Why are you siding with the VA?
They were interrupted mid interview, an interview the reporter started after ignoring a request to get a signed consent form from the patient. Why did he do this? It seems rather simple to me. Perhaps the patient didn’t want to sign the consent form.
Why are you vilifying the VA without having all the facts? Why is it so important to you to make the VA look like the bad guy here? I am sure that in many cases the VA is guilty of doing something wrong, but this is NOT one of those cases.
Read this article and then come back and vilify the VA:
http://www.vawatchdog.org/09/nf09/nfapr09/nf041109-3.htm
BTW, vawatchdog is not a friend of the VA.
April 11th, 2009 at 1:24 pmDoes the patient in question have hands to sign the form with, or were they blown off by an IED? We are missing a lot of info here, so it is premature to blame anyone.
April 11th, 2009 at 1:54 pmWell, perhaps some of the regulars here are disappointed that you actually are gullible enough to believe that a consent form was the issue here.
:|
It was not.
It was the excuse.
April 11th, 2009 at 2:23 pmWAYNEBRO Says:
Well, perhaps some of the regulars here are disappointed that you actually are gullible enough to believe that a consent form was the issue here.
:|
It was not.
It was the excuse.
And you know this how? Did you witness the event? As far as I can tell the only source for what Gloria Hairston said and did was from Schultz. You don’t think it’s possible that Mr. Schultz had an agenda here? If he truly is a reporter, then why didn’t he know about the requirement to check in as a reporter (which he did not do) and to get a consent before an interview (which he did not do).
April 11th, 2009 at 2:26 pmThe ability to read combined with a functioning brain.
April 11th, 2009 at 2:28 pmBilbo,
So this is incorrect:
“On Tuesday, WAMU reporter Eric Schultz attempted to interview Tommie Canady, a veteran from Maryland, about the poor treatment he said he was receiving from the VA. In the middle of the interview at a VA hospital in Washington, DC, a VA communications specialist named Gloria Hairston, “along with two other employees and four armed security guards, stopped Schultz and wouldn’t let him leave until he handed over his [recording] equipment.”
It states right there that it was interupted mid interview. I guess the patient didn’t realize it was an interview because the reporter only had a note pad, recorder and camera.
Why do you insist the VA is right in this? Don’t worry though, that sneaky reporter with all his equipment will manage to fool another patient into giving an interview.
Possibly, once the consent is signed the VA still has to approve it? Or they are only allowed to conduct an interview in the presence of on of the VA overlords.
Since when in America is it a crime to speak of your own personal experiences? Since Bush became president. I guess
Gloria Hairston didn’t get the memo that we have a new President.
Also, to blow a hole in your theory, why was the reporter not allowed to give his phone number to a patient who requested it? Simply because the VA at this facility doesn’t want any of their patients talking to anyone about the shoddy care. Pretty simple.
And this: “VA spokesperson Katie Roberts. “We make every effort to protect the privacy of our patients and to ensure that they are able to make informed decisions about what information they release or discuss with the public while in a VA facility.” And how it may affect their future treatment (that’s my line, not the posts).
This is not painting the entire VA over one incident at this one facility. It is accurately describing the management style and care provided at this single facility.
April 11th, 2009 at 2:30 pmSKdeAnt Says:
Does the patient in question have hands to sign the form with, or were they blown off by an IED? We are missing a lot of info here, so it is premature to blame anyone.
Agreed. I would like to know why the patient didn’t sign a consent form. And why the reporter didn’t go back to get the patient to sign the form to get his flash card back.
Pretty much all we have to go on as to what happened in this incident is what Schultz tells us. He appears to be after his 15 minutes of fame here.
April 11th, 2009 at 2:31 pmBilbo Hussein Baggins
If you comprehended the article correctly, Gloria, “the Witch” did not ask for a consent form when she approached the reporter upon leaving?
And since when do you tell people not to give or ask someone for a phone number?
The only thing the VA could come up with was their consent form policy to keep from being sued.
April 11th, 2009 at 2:31 pmThe story is being reported by Jake Tapper, an ABC News’ Senior White House Correspondent. Its not just Mr Schultz promoting this story. And Schultz is a reporter for National Public Radio. He was trying to tell a story that Mr Canady wanted out.
If the issue here was simply a consent form then Ms Hairston would have simply provided one to Mr Canady to sign.
Instead she did not, but threatened to “get ugly” with Mr Schultz, demanding his equipment and refusing to let him leave, effectively kidnapping him by holding him physically (with several armed guards) until he handed over his equipment.
And this was a PUBLIC FORUM that Mr Schultz was interviewing Mr Canady in, something you’d know had you read the story. Mr Schultz simply spoke to Mr Schultz in a public forum provided by the VA and no mention of consent forms was given.
And now she’s released the data after pressure from the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, and no mention of Mr Canady signing any release forms has been mentioned to facilitate this release. Because the VA lawyers pointed out to Ms Hairston and the VA the unconstitutional nature of seizing a reporters equipment in a public venue.
So no, this wasn’t about a consent form, it was about the VA trying to silence criticism in an unconstitutional manner.
The consent form was merely a weak excuse that was abandoned once the lawyers were brought in.
April 11th, 2009 at 2:47 pmSo you all choose to believe the word of the reporter over the word of the VA. That’s your right.
So perhaps you can tell me why, when told he needed a consent form to interview the patient, Mr. Schultz didn’t ask for a consent form and have his patient sign it right then and there?
And what does Jake Trapper getting involved have to do with anything? We all know what a stellar reporter he is and he never blows things out of proportion…right? Trapper is also only reporting what Schultz said happened.
Did you even read the VA watchdog article? Ethical reporters know that 1) they need to sign in with the VA (which Schultz did not do and 2) they need a consent form signed before an interview (which Schultz did not do)
http://www.vawatchdog.org/ 09/ nf09/ nfapr09/ nf041109-3.htm
April 11th, 2009 at 3:22 pmNo, I choose to believe what’s been reported by both sides, and so far nothing Ms Hairston has said contradicts in any significant manner what Mr Schultz said.
April 11th, 2009 at 3:25 pmA better question would be if a consent form was the only issue, why didn’t Ms Hairston simply provide one, rather than surrounding the reporter with armed guards.
April 11th, 2009 at 3:27 pmDid you even read the article we are talking about?
This was a PUBLIC forum.
In a public forum you cannot restrict the freedom of the press. Here, since you like providing links here’s a link to the US Constitution since you obviously haven’t read it in a while.
http://www.constitution.org
April 11th, 2009 at 3:31 pmOh and by the way, having worked for the VA for several years I’m quite familiar with VA policies on speaking with reporters.
April 11th, 2009 at 3:33 pmBeck using a cable network to organize and promote a radical reich-wing protest
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