Good. I wish they had pistol whipped him, too. You do not photograph or film at hospitals because patients have privacy rights. If he wanted to interview this person and take photos, he should have done it off site.

My, gosh… what are you, some kind of moron? Nobody has said that the patient being interviewed was unwilling, or that his privacy was being “invaded.” You made that up out of your own composted imagination.

Geez, what an extremist you are.

He was “inside the hospital,” and generally hospitals are very cautious about PR, patient privacy etc. Reporters can’t just go into one and interview whoever they want. Hospitals have PR staff to guide the process, and have some legal authority about what happens on their (Our in the case of the VA?) property.

I have little doubt from this story this VA PR employee and the gaurds crossed a line, but the context of “inside the hospital” needs consideration as well.

Naw! We don’t need no stinkin’ “further consideration.”

The reporter was a visitor of the patient. As long as the reporter came in the hospital to see the patient through normal channels, i.e., through the front door: “Hi! I’m here to see ‘John Doe’,” or whoever, and he was admitted, that’s the end of any necessary consideration.

The First Amendment covers the rest.

Certainly a hospital can control their own PR, and who has access to hospital employees, and who speaks on behalf of the hospital…but not the patients. Of course, the hospital can control whether people physically admitted to the premises, but once there…the hospital has no legal control over conversations which take place between visitors and willing patients…and whether a willing patients conversation with a visitor is recorded.

They didn’t “cross a line”… the hospital officials committed several crimes: (1) Armed robbery. (2) False Imprisonment. (3) And if they caused the reporter to be moved from anywhere in the hospital to anywhere else in the hospital: Kidnapping. (4) Criminal civil rights violations. All of these can be prosecuted federally, because they occurred on federal property.

Anyone think Bambi will allow it?

-Billy Jack-

If you are a doctor or nurse at the VA, then you can’t get a job anywhere else!

Bull! A lot of people like working at the VA because you get all the federal holidays and a months vacation and you can transfer to different hospitals around the country without losing pay, retirement, and other assorted benefits.

Any police officer has the authority DUTYto disregard or at least challenge an obviously unlawful order from a supervisor.

ChicagoBlues on April 10, 2009 at 2:47 PM

Fixed it for you; but I know what you are refering to. A police officer has a sworn duty to enforce the law when a crime is committed in his presence. That does not change because the crime is committed by the boss.

I’ll bet I’m not the only old timer who misses HotAir TV…Bryan and MM singing and stuff.
sigh.

Tru2my2 on April 10, 2009 at 2:53 PM

I just miss the MM-on-a-trampoline videos. ;)

Took the ACLU to go after VA to allow for family members to visit certain family-member patients

Great link and one case the ACLU got right. Shultz should have done it right. Creeps like him destroy all of our rights. Rules protect us and when the rules are wrong we can get them changed if we go about it the right way. Shultz did not. He should be glad he was not arrested.

I can’t find any substantiation to the allegations, just “Shultz said

Do we need more that his admission that he did not fill out the required paperwork. Try this at a Rock Concert. Tape it and see what happens. Your MSM credentials will do little for you if you don’t have your paperwork done.

Privacy rules were hard fought for. They protect us when we can’t protect ourselves. VA patients are vulnerable thus the requirement for permission to record. It would be unworkable to just say well let Shultz break the rules we trust him. That would really scare me.

Took the ACLU to go after VA to allow for family members to visit certain family-member patients at the Hampton Roads VA hospital.

I thought Shinseki was going to usher in an era of transparency at VA. Guess VA’s idea of transparency isn’t what my idea of transparency is.

have little doubt from this story this VA PR employee and the gaurds crossed a line, but the context of “inside the hospital” needs consideration as well.

Exactly from this very biased story.

They claimed Canady was required but failed to sign a VA release form.

See there is the truth. Institutions have a right to set rules for their institution. Try going on to a military base and do this and you will most likely go to prison.

This fool figured he could go do a news story with no credentials and record it as well without going through required channels. He was plain wrong and I hope they charge him. Institutions of all kinds get sued for the type of behavior they stopped. If it was in Maryland it is most likely he committed illegal wiretapping. A Pokemoke man was charged with this yesterday for recording a mayor at the town square.

Follow the rules or face the consequences.

There are legal ways to to stories like this he just figured the rules didn’t apply to him. They do. The rules are clearly posted at all VA Hospitals he broke them pure and simple.

“You have to give me all of your equipment or I’m going to get ugly.”

I’m dying here; anyone have a picture of this creature? I’m hoping the future tense “going to” is incorrect.

What authority did the VA have to confiscate Schultz’ equipment?

Anyone have an answer to this question?

Robert_Paulson on April 10, 2009 at 2:25 PM

“I won.” – Pres. Obama

Her black eye healied but the incident shook her up for a long time

Some slight of hand, and you give the goon the empty mem card.

This VA is a major center for the five state upper midwest so maybe that has something to do with it. It is clean and well equipped and the medical personnel act as though they really care about the Vets.

Harry Schell on April 10, 2009 at 4:27 PM

The story behind the story of Walter Reed Medical Center that wasn’t told, or at least not given ample press play, was that WRAMC was BRAAC’d in the 1990′s, with a closeout date set. Once that became law (Congress passed the recommendations of BRAAC) then logistics and admin support funding for WRAMC dried up. The logic was why expend funds on an activity that was slated to close in the early 2000′s? Thus, few funds, if any, were allocated to anything that was not life-or-death and part of the major hospital complex. (A rather large multi-story building right inside the front gate. Can’t miss it.)

The appalling state of quarters, remember the photos, were all taken at out buildings, former barracks and NCO/Officers temp quarters that are arranged around the old central post, most of these buildings dating to the late 1800′s and early 1900′s.

Congress told DoD and the Army to stop spending money on WRAMC. By law. Yet, the same Congressional buffoons who cut funding for WRAMC were at the front of the angry crowd talking about how “Booosh” caused the problem.

How can they blame this on Booosh?