FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
CONTACT:
K.B. Forbes 202-320-1212
Sunday, May 15, 2005
Audrey Mullen
703-548-1160
MEDIA
ADVISORY
CHARGES OF “BRIBERY AND INTIMIDATION”
BY FLORIDA HOSPITAL AS
CONGRESSIONAL INQUIRY EXPANDS
News Conference Tomorrow
Monday, May 16, 2005
1:00 p.m. EDT
Hampton Inn North Universal Boulevard Area
5621 Windhover Drive (Near Kirkman and Vineland)
Orlando, FL
Orlando, FL –In an explosive
development, Florida Hospital, an Adventist Health System hospital, appears to
have attempted to “bribe and intimidate” an uninsured family after family
members met with staff members early last week of the powerful U.S. House Ways
and Means Oversight Subcommittee to give a personal account about abuses by the
so-called “not-for-profit” hospital.
Consejo de Latinos Unidos, a
non-profit organization that aids and educates uninsured Hispanics and others,
will outline the damning behavior against the Vega family during a news
conference tomorrow,
Monday May 16, 2005 at 1:00 p.m. EDT at the
Hampton Inn Orlando North Universal Boulevard Area, 5621 Windhover Drive (Near
Kirkman and Vineland), Orlando.
“If this were to have
happened in a court of law, it would simply be called witness tampering,” said
K.B. Forbes, Executive Director of the Consejo. “Florida Hospital did nothing to
help this uninsured family and now they are scrambling to cover their tracks
with a specious offer that includes a fully-paid ocean cruise for family
members.”
In the spring of 2004, Rodney
Vega, then 5-years-old, needed a brain tumor removed. Florida Hospital appears
to have refused to provide help after a physician in Miami told Rodney’s mother
that her son had two weeks to live. She contacted the Consejo, which arranged
for Rodney’s immediate treatment. What is astonishing about their plight is that
the Vegas are practicing Adventists, and Rodney’s father is a pastor for the
church. Florida Hospital claims to be an “Adventist” entity, yet did nothing to
help the family.
Last week, Rodney’s mother
gave the Oversight Subcommittee authorization to look at her son’s medical
records. On Friday morning, officials from Florida Hospital and a chaplain
associated with the hospital contacted the Vegas; the same day
www.wherethemoneygoes.com highlighted the story.