Did Hillary Clinton avoid going to the emergency room following her fainting spell Sunday to avoid exposing her medical treatment to other doctors who might have leaked the news to the public? The New York Post made that shocking claim today based on tips from unnamed (likely law enforcement) sources.
According to the Post, Clinton was on her way to an emergency room, but detoured to her daughter Chelsea Clinton’s apartment instead “to keep details of her medical treatment under wraps.”
Secret Service protocol called for the Democratic presidential nominee to be rushed to a state-designated Level I Trauma Center in the wake of her Sunday mn “overheated.”orning health crisis, sources said.
In Manhattan, that would be Bellevue Hospital.
But a campaign operative decided to change course to avoid having Clinton seen by doctors, nurses and other medical workers who could leak details to reporters, according to a source.
In addition, Clinton’s van was supposed to be escorted by an NYPD protective detail, but the Secret Service whisked her away from Ground Zero before cops could accompany her, another source said.
The former secretary of state had told police officials that she didn’t want the escort at all, but the NYPD overruled that request, the source added.
NYPD Deputy Commissioner John Miller said Clinton’s “early departure was transmitted in real-time by the Secret Service to the NYPD.”
Clinton’s campaign didn’t respond to requests for comment.
On Sunday, the campaign initially claimed that Clinton left the 15th annual observance at Ground Zero because she “felt overheated” — before revealing hours later that she was actually suffering from a bout of pneumonia diagnosed Friday.
MSNBC host Andrea Mitchell asked Clinton campaign spokesman Brian Fallon Monday why the campaign went to Chelsea’s apartment rather than to the hospital to have Clinton checked out as protocol required. Fallon tried to convince Mitchell that the Clinton campaign had been very forthcoming about the entire episode, but it was a tough sell.
“Believe me, she was telling everybody in earshot that she was perfectly fine. We did make immediate attempts to get in touch with her physician, and so that’s why her physician was able to visit her soon after at her home a little bit later in the day,” Fallon said. “And then as soon as that visit happened, she confirmed that it was the pneumonia that was likely causing the dehydration that caused her to feel overheated earlier in the day, and we put that statement out from her physician as soon as that exam was performed.”
“As soon as that exam was performed? Because it was eight hours after the initial illness or feeling of dehydration,” Mitchell said. “Eight hours, it was after 5:00, and that was almost, so 48 hours after the initial diagnosis of pneumonia.”
https://youtu.be/kXR1gMdinug
After Clinton was diagnosed with pneumonia on Friday, she proceeded right to her high-dollar fundraiser in New York City. But the most transparent campaign in history forgot to tell anybody about it until eight hours after she collapsed on Sunday. Instead, the initial story was that she had gotten “overheated.”
Clinton’s spokesman also said, “I can attest that it is the case that there is no other undisclosed condition. The pneumonia is the extent of it.”
Fallon was no doubt trying to dampen widespread speculation that Clinton may be suffering from Parkinson’s disease. A Republican state representative from New Hampshire went out on a limb Monday stating on Facebook that he thinks Clinton has the disease.
Via the Daily Mail:
Daniel Tamburello, a representative for New Hampshire, posted on his Facebook page that his father had Parkinson’s and that pneumonia is common among sufferers of the neuro-degenerative disease.
‘They may have admitted HRC has pneumonia, but that’s not WHY she has pneumonia. I believe she has pneumonia caused by Parkinsons [sic] disease,’ Tamburello wrote.
The Clinton camp, meanwhile, is putting out the word that “a debilitating bug was making the rounds among staff at her headquarters and campaign aides who travel with Clinton.” According to People magazine, at least half a dozen senior staff were struck with various respiratory infections two weeks before Clinton was diagnosed with pneumonia.
Fallon’s story is that “several of the senior staff have been afflicted with something or other for the last few days.”
“I was sick for a couple of days. I had the mild form of it,” Fallon said.
The stricken staffers included campaign manager Robby Mook, and two top aides who needed emergency medical treatment — one of whom was taken by ambulance to a hospital emergency room after collapsing from severe dehydration, People magazine reported.
According to Fallon, however, Clinton’s pneumonia is “not contagious.” It is not known whether Clinton received the pneumococcal vaccine for all adults age 65 and older as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends.
Bill Clinton will appear in Clinton’s place at some fundraisers in California Tuesday while she rests.
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