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Documents have surfaced to expand on the ad that Republican Wayne Parker has been running against Democratic opponent Parker Griffith in AL-05. Brian at Flashpoint and Dale Jackson at the Attack Machine were early to the party, so check out their posts with links to “A Report to the Board of Trustees of the Huntsville Hospital Relative to the Program in Radiation Oncology at the Huntsville Hospital” and a transcript related to Griffith’s suit against Huntsville Hospital. (Traffic is a blogger’s sustenance, so I’ll direct you there since they had the goods first.) Dale and Brian both make the point that recent misrepresentation on Griffith’s part about the situation 20 years ago “goes directly to the issue of trust” for the candidate.
Democrat Griffith has been perceived as the candidate with the upper hand, and Republicans are hoping/believing this is some serious weight added to Wayne Parker’s boxing gloves as the two candidates duke it out. Democrats are hoping that Wayne Parker is not contender enough to deliver a knockout punch. Is this a glancing blow or a knockdown?
Links:
Attack Machine: Parker Griffith’s honesty problem…
Flashpoint: Parker Griffith & Unwarranted Pain and Suffering
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Dale Jackson is the lead musician of The Dale Jackson band, located in Nashville, TN. They aren’t too bad actually.
Laura Jones
Cool . . . I’ll check them out.
For your liking #52:
http://www.garageband.com/artist/DaleJackson
Laura Jones
Thanks. I need to get up to speed on my music. Never even heard of them. I take it they are Republicans?
#30, it is most definitely disgusting. Sadly though, if you have actually read the report you will see that instead of giving his patients the standard dose of radiation he gave them more doses in smaller amounts so that he could bill for more office visits. That resulted in high incidence of death. I don’t know what else you can call it.
#32, there was in fact a judge. Griffith sued the hospital and the judge found the suit to be so frivolous he dismissed it and ordered him to pay the hospitals attorneys fees. Which if you know anything about the legal practice, you’ll know that means it was an especially stupid suit.
Wayne Parker is up to his dirty tricks again. Making up lies, stretching the truth, doing anything to divert attention from his lack of accomplishments.
Medical Opinion. Medical Opinion. And obviously it was bad medical opinion (or he would not have his license today). And why did the Huntsville Hosptital try to buy out Dr. Griffith’s practice and have him come work for them? This is Wayne Parker at his best. Making up lies.
Apparently the CEO of Huntsville Hospital has given $1,000 to Dr. Griffith’s campaign. He obviously thinks Dr. Griffith would make the better Congressman.
I sure wish Wayne Parker would start talking about the economy and stop spending all of his time on some allegations from 20 years ago that have no proof to back them up.
# 55 . . . there might have been a suit. I am not sure. But I guarntee you if there was it had nothing to do with Dr. Griffith’s treatment of his patients.
Doctors and hosptitals are always involved in lawsuits (as many businesses are). Allegations fly both ways. This is just more of the same (doesn’t mean a thing).
It appears Huntsville Hospital didn’t push this issue because they knew they would get sued due to the fact that they referred patients to Dr. Griffith’s practice. Huntsville Hospital let him walk to save their butt. Those execs that let him walk are long gone from the Hospital, but the scary thoughts is, did they unleash Dr. Griffith on other patients and hospitals in order to protect their bottom line?
There is so much spin in here I am hearing the tornado sirens. The Griffith cronies are getting the blog-o-sphere in a tizzy because there is no response from them that would really adequately address this unless it is to throw out a bunch of argumentation 101 logical fallacies and personal attacks on Parker. This story is a disaster, thank God I don’t know anyone who had cancer at this time, because I’d be madder than hell right now to know that my loved one’s treatments were not done properly.
#62 Yes, you are starting to connect the dots. There is much more to this than meets the eye initially.
This is a non-story as far as I can tell. A couple of doctors thinking they were the smartest guys in the room over 20 years ago. Give me a break.
65, it may be a non-story to you, but i say it’s a story if you were one of the patients or family member of one of the patients who now find out that they were intentionally not given proper treatment so that THEIR DOCTOR WHO IS SUPPOSED TO CARE FOR THEM ABOVE ALL ELSE lied to their faces to make more money.
# 66 . . . you are treating this report as some sort of conclusive fact. The whole point is that it is NOT. There are contradictions left and right even within the report. Plus, Huntsville Hospital was trying to buy Griffith out at the same time. Griffith didn’t have problems with other hospitals. He didn’t have problems with his patients. And the medical boards obviously thought he was fine. So, when you look at the big picture, the idea tha he was intentionally hurting patients is ridiculous and absurd. This report is biased and full of contradictions and medical opinions. It is not fact.
#67…So if this is not true, why did Griffith “retire” from his lucrative “pioneering” medical practice only a couple of years after this report was written, after he lost his privilege to practice at Huntsville Hospital, and after bouncing around 4 other hospitals in N. Alabama? Oh that’s right, he started a chain of funeral homes- I guess that is one profession requiring knowledge of human anatomy that would be perfect for an out-of-work doctor…
He actually had his own cancer center which was extremely successful. He sold it to pursue other opportunities . . . inlcluding a chain of radio stations . . . that were very successful.
Parker Griffith has been a very successful businessman his whole life. His accomplishments are very impressive (in healthcare, in real estate, and in radio). It’s hard to attach this man’s career. He has accomplished so much.
What are Wayne Parker’s credentials? He lobbied his father-in-law and he lied about being an insurance “executive.”
What company is Wayne Parker an “executive” from? How many employees does he manage? This guy is a fraud.
Going back to the subject at hand, yesterday on Channel 48 in Huntsville, Griffith said that “I’ve never had a patient complaint” when he was asked for a reaction to this story. Is that believable? I don’t think so. Griffith seems to be frazzled because that is an irresponsible answer (and an “untruth” if he’s ever been sued). So to answer the original question, I don’t think he’s knocked out, but he sure is dazed. I bet he thought these reports were shredded years ago…I guess that shows skeletons always surface when you run for the big offices!
There sure weren’t any patient complaints in those “reports.” They were based on these guys reviewing some charts. The hired guns did not even examine the patients . . . they just looked at the charts. I think that is what Dr. Griffith was probably talking about. Huntsville Hospital didn’t have any patient complaints against him, so they hired these guys to “review” some charts and play monday morning quarterback. This all goes back to medical opinion. Dr. Griffith saw these patients and treated them as he saw fit. These guys saw no patients, came in, review a few charts, and then started second guessing everything he had done (and were paid a handsome fee for doing so). These are the same guys that plaintiffs lawyers pay millions to come in and testify for them. But in this case, the doctors did not even examine the patients. They just assumed they were the smartest guys in the room and could decide this from looking at some charts.
Has anyone heard about a Democrats for Wayne Parker group forming? Ive heard a lot of rumors about that in the last day and it involves some well known politicians.
wow. and i thought the race in district 2 was rough. luckily nothing of this nature has happened in that race nor do i foresee it. but this story does seem to have hot a nerve with the griffith folks. where there is smoke…..
So, 70, “real estate” is what we are calling “funeral homes” these days? Just can’t get the irony of oncologist turned funeral home director out of my mind
This controversy is nothing but bad news for Parker Griffith: his doctor bio is a major part of his image-can’t exactly run on his record in our less than stellar Alabama Senate. Its a bad mix-creepy facts plus credibility questions.
Griffith brought his “Pioneering Medical Practice” into this race never thinking his past could be “unsealed”. — now he smells form it. Going even deeper and more personal – He quit the hospital to prevent the peer review that would have exposed him for his inept/unethical medical practice.
The real issue is trust, and we cannot trust Parker Griffith.
G Masser
Harvest, AL
Agreed that Griffith brought this whole issue up – made it part of his campaign – and now he is suffering the consequence.
http://blog.al.com/breaking/2008/09/medical_documents_stir_up_cong.html
See if you find this article interesting. I did. When I saw that Wayne Parker lobbied for a recurring drug addict/alcoholic to have his medical license reinstated, I was appalled. How can we trust a crony lobbyist who once fought for a drug addict to practice medicine on our loved ones fight for us in Congress? We certainly can’t.
I did find that article interesting! Because the man that you talk about, Dennis Olive, was who Parker Griffith brought into his practice to be his closest partner, and according to the report, Griffith gave the same quality of “treatment” (i.e. letting people die for money) as this bozo. Griffith was the one who let this drug addict be his closest partner, and for that, shame on Griffith.
If you read that article, you’ll see the Huntsville Times validates Wayne Parker’s claims, even if it raises questions on Wayne’s representation for Olive. And congrats to Wayne for accepting responsibility for that, which Parker Griffith never seems to do.
The judge said Griffith sued because he knew of the peer review. The outside doctors said Griffith was letting people die of cancer to bill them more money. The peer review board agreed that Griffith was doing this. The papers see the report as legitimate enough that they are running with this.
Everyone accepts this report but Parker Griffith.
And how could he? It says that he let the vulnerable die so he could exploit them for a few dollars more.
Anyone working for this man should feel completely betrayed by him. They should be ashamed of themselves if they stay on his staff and continue to pretend he didn’t do this to the vulnerable and defenseless people that Democrats are supposed to protect. If you are a Democrat, and you care about protecting the vulnerable and defenseless, then Parker Griffith is the very antithesis of everything you stand for.
Anyone hear Dr. Cotter on Dale Jackson this morning? Sounds like Wayne Parker is in deep trouble for illegally releasing this medical information.
Man, no wonder Dr. Griffith opened his own cancer center. Huntsville Hospital’s behavior was disgusting as it related to this whole issue. That place was so corrupt its unbelievable.
Gregory W. Cotter, M.D., Director and Philip Rubin Scholar, Division of Radiation Oncology, The University of South Alabama College of Medicine, Chairman, Standards Committee, American College of Radiation Oncology
83, just heard it, and your interpretation i think is through “griffith colored glasses,” ’cause Cotter did him no favors. Cotter did challenge the legality of releasing the docs, however a quick review of caselaw will show that unless the WP campaign disclosed patient info, no law was broken. sorry, you got nothing there. But Cotter hurt his buddy Griffith with this interview, way more than he helped..
#83 – whoever violated the confidentiality of the document by giving it to Parker might be in trouble, but Parker is not.
Dale Jackson (WVNN) asked “Did Huntsville Hospital, Dr, Brady, Dr. Perez, and Dr. Scheider conspire against Griffith” – Cotter replied “Yes”. Cotter also stated that “Huntsville Hospital had an environment of corruption”.
Cotter admitted that he spoke with Griffith prior to the interview.
Huntsville Hospital has some explaining to do. If Griffith is the monster the Hospital says he was, why didn’t they report him to the State Medical Board?
What a mess. Regardless of the election, getting this information out to the public is a good thing.
I think Cotter gave an interesting perspective. I think its clear that Huntsville Hospital was out to get Dr. Griffith at any cost.
Dr. Cotter was a class act. He was fair and reasoned. Dale Jackson, on the other hand, came across as a real jerk (questioning Cotter’s credentials with nothing to back it up). From what I hear, Dr. Cotter is one of the most respected oncologists in the state.
This was about Huntsville Hospital trying to make money. Clear and simple. Dr. Griffith was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. They went after him because he had the successful practice, not them. Dr. Griffith was right when he said they went after him because he was a competitor.
89, i’ll agree with you on Cotter being classy, even when his back was against the wall, he didn’t get angry or laugh, like parker griffith has the whole time. To hear griffith laugh this off will make you want to throw up. Sick dude if you ask me.
I laughed when I saw Wayne Parker’s ad. A skeleton and the picture breaking. True desperation. That’s what happens when the Republicans nominate an incompetent candidate. This seat would have been competitive if they had a halfway decent candidate. It looks like Parker Griffith already has this election wrapped up.
Wayne Parker’s ad was sick. I thought Parker Griffith’s reaction was completely natural. I would laugh too if someone accused me of being a murderer.
he wasn’t asked about murder, just about the very serious issue of mistreatment of patients who have cancer, under treating for more visits which equal more cash to griffith. he was running the show over there, it was griffith’s department. good leaders take responsibility, bad ones hide and laugh.
Huntsville Hospital is the shop that got shut down. Dr. Griffith left and opened his own shop.
Seems rather interesting timing that shortly after rumors begin being heard that the Republican Party will pull major financial support from Wayne Parker’s campaign, the campaign attempts to drop a bombshell on its opponent. Maybe a “hail Mary” attempt to keep the money flowing for the independent ads?
Parker Griffith is clearly someone who let cancer kill people for money. All the smoke you can blow cannot change that Parker Griffith is clearly someone who let cancer kill people for money.
R.A. Zimmerman . . . you are a desperate Republican. Parker Griffith is going to clobber Wayne Parker at the polls.
The way it looks now, I don’t see parker griffith “clobbering” anyone.
even if his name stays on the ballot, Griffith won’t be doing any clobbering