Mother's 'Criminal' Past Doesn't Detract From Web Birth
When the National Enquirer broke the story a few days after a Florida woman gave birth live on the Internet, alleging she had a "lengthy criminal past" for bad check writing, the news had little impact.
The American Health Network (AHN), which hosted the event on its Web site, http://www.ahn.com, generated 1.1 million unique users June 16, the day of the birth, 2.5 million unique users within the first week and 3 million page views within the month, says Karen Bowling, AHN's VP of marketing.
In Bowling's view this was not a PR crisis. She responded to about 12 media calls (that were primarily local) where she highlighted the event's objective - to educate viewers on birthing options. "You don't ask about a patient's background, this was not a character story," says Bowling."
For the industry, the more significant PR implication is how this story will affect future patient participation.
"Maybe PR people will have to start preparing patients for the possibility that the media will expose their personal lives," says Bowling. (AHN, Karen Bowling, 407/224-6967)
Hospital Apologizes for Epidural Mistake; Clarifies Position
After getting slammed by the media last week for denying anesthesia to a Medi-Cal patient while she was giving birth, the Northridge Hospital Medical Center (NHMC) in Los Angeles quickly responded with an apology and an extensive list of "media clarifications."
The hospital is being sued by a woman who was denied epidural anesthesia, allegedly because she could not pay cash up front for the service.
The California Department of Health Services (DHS) and the California Medical Assistance Commission are investigating the hospital for violations of state health regulations.
The PR crisis is being handled using a combination of targeted case studies about the hospital's long history of serving Medi-Cal patients in general and the volume of Medi-Cal patients who have received epidural anesthesia in particular.
For instance, 2,580 babies were delivered at NHMC's Roscoe Boulevard Campus, 985 of the deliveries were funded by Medi-Cal. (Halsted Communications, John Lockhart, 213/957-3111, ext. 224)