donoharmdoc.com. This is a powerful investigative follow-up to Michael Moore’s Sicko. A must see film for anyone who has received huge hospital bills or is interested in health care reform. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan introduce the film to the capacity crowd of 300 at the Do No Harm Chicago premiere on May 21, 2009. Do No Harm tells the story of two reluctant whistleblowers in a small Georgia town who endure relentless attacks as they struggle to draw national attention to hospital corruption and the plight of the uninsured. At the center of this story is Phoebe Putney, a non-profit hospital in Albany, Georgia whose influence is felt by most residents – everyone knows someone who works at Phoebe, owes Phoebe money, or who has been to the hospital for treatment. In 2003, Dr. John Bagnato and accountant Charles Rehberg stumble upon evidence that the hospital is overcharging uninsured and indigent patients and is using aggressive collections tactics to recover costs. Their subsequent investigation uncovers millions of dollars in offshore bank accounts and lucrative for-profit businesses under the control of the non-profit hospital – not only at Phoebe, but also at non-profit hospitals around the country. And shockingly this is all entirely legal. When these discoveries become public, Bagnato and Rehberg become the targets of threats and intimidation, and are eventually prosecuted by local authorities for blowing the whistle on the hospital’s practices. With their …
Posts Tagged ‘Film’
Lisa Madigan Introduces “Do No Harm” documentary film – health care reform
Thursday, May 13th, 2010Baghdad ER – An HBO Documentary Film
Thursday, April 1st, 2010
Description
Produced and directed by 11-time Emmy? Award-winner Jon Alpert, this 64-minute verite documentary takes an unforgettable look inside the 86th Combat Support Hospital (CSH), the U.S. Army?s premier medical facility in Iraq and former site of one of Saddam Hussein?s elite medical facilities. Shot over two months in the summer of 2005, the film puts a human face on the war?s cold casualty statistics, as doctors and nurses fight to save the lives of wounded soldiers who are Medevaced (helicoptered) in a numbingly routine basis.Amazon.com
HBO’s unflinching Baghdad ER makes programs like Grey’s Anatomy and House look like kiddie cartoons. Directed by Jon Alpert and Matthew O’Neill, the fly-on-the wall documentary tracks the days and nights of the 86th Combat Support Hospital. Located in Baghdad’s Green Zone, the CSH is the Army’s premier medical facility in Iraq. It’s a busy place. Most of the injuries–almost 18,000 from 2003-2005–are due to IEDs (improvised explosive devices). Patients with minor problems are patched up and sent on their way. More severe cases are medevaced to Germany or the States. Still others won’t make it. Then there are those who lose limbs. It isn’t an uncommon occurrence, and the film features discomfiting moments concerning those individuals (the sequences may be brief, but they’re undeniably disturbing). But all is not trauma and tears. Alpert and O’Neill also catch the hard-working staff during rare moments of levity: playing the saxophone, smoking cigars, and telling bad jokes. As Captain Merritt Pember accedes, “There’s a lot of stuff we laugh about and probably shouldn’t–it helps keep us sane.” According to the introductory text, “Ninety percent of American soldiers wounded in Iraq survive. This is the highest rate of war survivors in US History.” Baghdad ER brings that impressive statistic to indelible life. –Kathleen C. Fennessy
