Vet. Admin. returns WAMU/NPR Reporter's audio device

[antimatter98]

http://wamu.org/news/09/04/13.php#25989

"April 13, 2009 - The Department of Veterans Affairs is conducting an official review of why its workers confiscated the equipment of and detained WAMU reporter David Schultz after he spoke to a vet at a public meeting.

VA Secretary Eric Shinseki has ordered a top to bottom review of last week's incident in which VA guards confiscated the equipment of and detained WAMU 88.5 reporter David Schultz. The incident happened when Schultz tried to interview a veteran at a town hall meeting at D.C.'s VA hospital. The VA agreed late Friday to return the device to WAMU without any conditions attached for its use."


But note: why do these incidents happen, and THEN are rectified? What is it about our government's respect for law
and the Constitution that is so lacking that these confiscations and detainments happen in the first place? It's because
government officials and police and 'private security guards' believe that such incidents send a message---and they
are right.

[ThirdWorldJohn]

1. Crimes were committed by the VA against that reporter

Illegal property confiscation. Kidnapping, harassment, intimidation, retaliation, WTF? Hairston should be fired. Today

[havocmom]

2. Why do incidents happen then are rectified? Because some worker bees are drones.

Incidents happen with the staff dealing with what is going on. Obviously, lots of staff left from time of other leadership, needs more training and possibly, some need to be replaced. BUT the guys at the top are not everywhere at once and incidents with staff who may not be lawyers will happen. Worker bees are not lawyers. They have to respond in real time and don't have the luxurary of being able to weigh all the issues then strain through the cheesecloth that is the huge pile of laws.

Frankly, I was wondering if some of the staff was concerned with patient privacy laws, which they are obligated to follow to protect people's privacy. A patient can speak to anyone, but when the matter is about OTHER patients and the listener is a reporter, the privacy issue may be some concern. There just may have been some confusion there because of that. Or, there may have been a staff that felt the truth getting out might hurt them. I am not so foolish as to think bad workers would want no witnesses to talk to press. The boss (Shinseki) is right, there needs to be complete investigation. Only then will they & we know what went wrong so it can be addressed.

Hospital staffs are required to maintain privacy for all patients. There may be a lot of instances where reporters looking for facts, the public's need to know, and patients' right to privacy might just be at cross purposes. While I am rabid in support of a free and vital press to serve the people in a democracy, I also know there are times when a staff may be under the double barreled shotgun of law/policy/ and press access. I will wait until the facts are actually KNOWN before judging all workers on this issue. My personal experience is that the laws re privacy can be very restrictive at the work place and workers are liable.

Not that it will stop any jerking knees around here.