Karl Rove is widely believed to have covered up the ghastly wound.
Posted on 02/14/2006 9:25:07 AM PST by Mr. Brightside
First Doctor to Treat Cheney Victim Tells Texas Paper He Wanted to Send Him Home
By Joe Strupp
Published: February 14, 2006 12:05 PM ET
NEW YORK While news reports from The New York Times to the Austin American-Statesman have been describing the injuries to Harry Whittington, the victim of Vice President Dick Cheney's accidental shooting, as more serious than first believed, as he remains hospitalized today, the tiny Alice [Texas] Echo-News Journal will offer a different version later today, E&P has learned.
According to the afternoon daily, located about 60 miles from the shooting site, the first doctor to treat Whittington immediately after the Saturday shooting contended that his wounds were superficial and not in need of further hospitalization.
"If it were just a normal citizen, he would have sent him home with antibiotics," said Ofelia Hunter, Echo-News Journal editor, who talked to the doctor. "He felt that it was more royal treatment that he was getting."
Hunter's comments referred to Dr. Raj Subnani, who treated Whittington at the Christus Spohn Hospital in Kingsville where he was first taken before being transferred to the Christus Spohn Hospital Memorial in Corpus Christi, where he remains.
Hunter, who plans to run a story about Subnani this afternoon, said she interviewed the doctor Monday. The editor, who is one of three newsroom staffers at the paper, indicated that the doctor was not in favor of transferring Whittington because he did not believe he required further hospitalization.
"He felt he was transferred because of his prominence, and that he was already stable," Hunter said. "It was more because of who he was." That is in marked contrast to reports in most major newspapers that Whittington required intensive care treatment, was hit with more than 100 pellets, and that some of the wounds were so severe the pellets could not be removed.
Hunter also reports that Subnani was upset that the Corpus Christi Hospital was being credited with treating Whittington. "More than anything because Corpus Christi staff is getting all of the attention and his staff did all of the work," Hunter said of Subnani. "Media outlets are giving them the credit."
The Echo-News Journal, which publishes every day except Saturday, did not get the early scoop that its neighbor, the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, did. While the Caller-Times has been credited nationwide with breaking the shooting story online Sunday, Hunter said her first report on the shooting was an AP story in the Monday paper.
While she praised the Caller-Times for its work, Hunter also criticized officials for not revealing the news earlier to local journalists. "We should be able to get that information," she said. Hunter also said the Armstrong Ranch, where the shooting occurred, is known as a place where political heavyweights often visit, noting that Cheney comes down at least once a year. But she said there had been no similar incidents therr in the recent past.
It was just for observation .. he was never in serious condition
If I were shot by the VP, I'd be reluctant to have the news spread all over. I'd hope to have a few hours (days, if possible) of peace and quiet in order to recover before the media hordes descended on me to make me more miserable than my wounds.
I give Scott an "A" for that remark.
Forty or fifty illegal aliens will not get treatment due to the resources the lawyer comandeered..
Six or Seven hundred more could not get treatment because the hospital security precluded it...
Obvioulsy a scandal of 'Tinyantic' proportions..
Scott isn't letting them push him around anymore. It's about time.
Thanks, I tuned in a few minutes ago. Enough to see the last Cheney quesions with Scott basically telling her to get lost and then he signed off with the Longhorns hand sign.
Someone in the hospital administration found out that he is wealthy or has great insurance (maybe both) so he'll stay in the hospital until he leaves on his own.
Scott just told Gregory it wasn't about HIM....haha.
They have indeed gone berserk. On CNN today, Steve Roberts reported that "Dick Cheney shot (someone) while HUNTING ILLEGALLY". Yup! He said that with a straight face. The real story is that a $7 special stamp for upland birds was missing from the hunting license, due to an oversight. Othewise, Cheney's license was completely in order.
Another dingbat on Corrupt Cable News said, "We do not know yet whether CRIMINAL CHARGES will be brought against the Vice President."
They are in a feeding frenzy, like the sharks off the Australian coast.
Maybe the media whores can turn this into Cheney arranging to have the guy detained, kinda like Guantanemo - or maybe the doc wanted to let him go so Cheney could "finish the job".
If I were shot by the Veep, I'd ask the doc to save all the birdshot so I could sell it on E-Bay!
Doctors with egos! What ever happened to patient privacy.
yah.
The local News here reported last night, that Whittington was in stable condition, and had been released from intensive care!!!
The spin is just amazing to watch...
The maximum 'killing distance' (for birds) of 7.5 sized shot is about 35 yards, and after that it's unlikely that the skin would be broken. I can't find any of the formulas for calculating the physical damage, but a .75 oz. 28 gauge shell with 7.5 size shot has roughly 250 pellets. If it has a muzzle energy between 1500 and 2000 ft lbs, then we're talking a muzzle energy per pellet of a maximum of 8lbs. This would drop to roughly 2 lbs per pellet at 35 yards. If we assume he was hit with half of the load, (a conservative estimate in my view) then he was hit with something in the territory of 250 ft lbs of total energy, but since the total energy would have been spread over a pattern of pellets covering roughly 20 inches square, he would have been hit with something like 1.6 lbs per square inch of force. And since not all the pellets would be hitting him at the same time, only the first few pellets would probably be enough to break the skin.
There is no doubt that he would not have enjoyed the process, and it would probably be a little more serious for a man of his age, but it's by no means a life threatening issue. More than likely this is similar in substance to the kinds of injuries MANY people report around the hunting lodge, and inevitably laugh about.
Now my analysis is riddled with weak assumptions and speculation, but I think it's a good rough estimate, given the availability of information. Maybe someone who isn't at work right now can get some of the hard numbers from Remington or Winchester and rework the math for us.
LOL....the emails and phone calls rolled in.......as did the rest of the media ridiculing the white house press corpse for their rabid dog behaviour.
Oh darn .. I missed that one *L*
Greorgy the girlie man, who looks like an ape, pitched ANOTHER hissy fit.
Prissy boy.
They actually wrote back saying they were offended that I would even think that they were deliberately printing incorrect news.
snicker snort on my part!
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