Poor Rush Limbaugh! People just aren't paying enough attention to him these days. Well, actually they're paying attention to the WRONG stuff, and not focusing on what he wants them to.
See, there was an emergency hearing about his medical records last week, and while members of the press were there, they apparently didn't do what they were supposed to and report how Rush was an innocent victim and everybody else was at fault. This is what Rush had to say about it on his Christmas Eve radio show:
Many things that were said by my lawyer and by the judge and by the state in this hearing on Monday that the media, who were witnesses have chosen to ignore. So you can go to the website, www.RushLimbaugh.com and peruse word-for-word the transcript of the medical records hearing.
So, I went there and perused the the transcript, just like Rush said to do. And, so that you won't have to, here are the highlights:
The State says it obtained the medical records with a search warrant instead of subpoenaing them because it was afraid that something would happen to the records once word got out that it wanted them. The State says it tried to seize records from a lawyer who was involved in the case, but by the time it showed up with a subpoena, Roy Black's office had already taken the records. And there's precedent for getting medical records via a search warrant, and they obviously have a compelling reason for them, since they are investigating Rush for Doctor Shopping, and they need to know what he told the docs.
However, Roy Black, Rush's attorney, assures us that legal records belong to the client, and it's customary for the new lawyer to get copies from the old one. (We aren't told why Roy's office apparently took all the records, not just copies of them, but it was probably because his copy machine was out of toner or something). And Roy is highly offended that anyone would imply that he would try to steal medical records.
Roy had claimed that he needed an emergency hearing to rule on the records since Rush couldn't get medical treatment because the state has all of his information, but after filing the motion Roy learned that the doctors were able to make copies (again, this idea of making "copies" seems to be totally new to Roy), and so Rush's life really wasn't in danger. But Roy still wants the records sealed (preventing the investigators from looking at them) for ten more days while he files another petition about them.
While the judge indicated several times that he was only there to rule on the issue of whether Rush's rights were violated when the records were seized via search warrant, Roy felt it was important to "play to the press," as the judge put it. I think this "playing" is the part that Rush wants us to focus on.
So, per Roy, Rush did not go doctor shopping. Back in 1998 his coccyx bone was removed and it was found that he had cysts. He was still being treated for the resulting pain in 2003 by the Jupiter Out-Patient Surgery Center; the two doctors there prescribed lots of opiates for him, but since they were part of the same practice, Rush couldn't have been doctor shopping.
Rush also got meds from a doctor at the House Ear Clinic in Los Angeles. And that's because he was going deaf, and at some point got a cochlear implant. And, um, it still hurt, so he needed opiates for that too.
While Roy doesn't mention why Rush needed to see the fourth doctor and get opiates from him, it sure wasn't because he was Doctor Shopping.
Despite the fact that Rush got 440 Lorcets and Norcos through five prescriptions issued by the four doctors, all within a period of less than a month, Rush was not Doctor Shopping. OF COURSE each doctor probably knew about the other prescriptions, maybe.
See, his doctors back in 1988 gave him OxyContin, which was supposed to non-addictive, but it was REALLY addictive. So, it's the pharmaceutical company's fault that Rush is a criminal. And his previous doctors, too, for believing what the drug reps said. The whole damn medical establishment is out of order! You can't handle the truth!
Additionally, Wilma Cline, one of the major witnesses in this case, is not a nice person. Although Rush did a background check on her, she fooled him, since her husband, the "convicted drug trafficker" and "fugitive from a federal conviction," was living under an assumed name.
While cleaning his house, Wilma learned that poor Rush had undergone all these unsuccessful medical procedures and was taking lots of pain medication. So, she and husband obtained the security access codes to his Palm Beach studio and cornered him in the parking garage to his studio, where they demanded 4 million dollars or they would tell the Enquirer about Rush's completely legal use of medication prescribed for legitimate medical conditions.
They had followed him a number of times in order to be able to get to him personally. David Cline was sort of a wild man making threats not only against Mr. Limbaugh, but other people associated with him.
So, if Rush hadn't paid their blackmail, then David Cline might have killed Rush's wife, or dog -- or maybe his listeners!!!
Anyway, Rush WANTED to report Cline to the FBI, but somebody in the biz (Sean Hannity? Bill O'Reilly?) told him that if he did, the authorities would just investigate HIM, because of who he is, and the media would have a field day. Because of who he is, you see.
Hey, this sounds like it would be a great movie plot! We have the innocent, naive, stupid hero who is targeted by an evil housekeeper and her drug dealer felon husband. They frame him by, um, making it look like he shot somebody at the U.N. (or by faking tape recordings of him buying drugs from them, and fabricating emails asking for "blue babies"). And then they follow him around for several days, finally confronting him in an empty parking garage and demanding $4 million dollars. . .or ELSE! And he can't go to the authorities, because nobody will believe him! And so his only chance is to play along with them until he can force a showdown on Mount Rushmore!
But before that could happen, because of who he is, Rush was forced to pay "substantial amounts of money" to the Clines. And after they "bled him dry," they went to the State attorney's office and were granted immunity from prosecution if they would be witnesses against Rush. Then, "with their newly minted immunity, the Clines turned around and were free to sell their story to the National Enquirer for $250,000." And after that story came out, the stupid State attorney's office felt like they had to investigate Rush, like he was a common criminal or something, instead of being the unwitting dupe of really clever and unscrupulous criminals.
And then last Wednesday, Roy was called by a reporter from the Palm Beach Post who "let slip" that the guy leaking all the stuff about Rush being investigated for money laundering, doctor shopping, etc., is Mike Edmondson, "who was the chief spokesman from the State attorney's office." Edmondson "has a symbiotic relationship with the Palm Beach Post" which is now printing stories trying to discredit Mr. Limbaugh, "trying to make his profession or the practice of his profession discredited." Because "right-wing talk radio host" was held to be a very credible profession up until now, and Rush was always deemed to be one of noblest practioners of the trade.
And that's why Rush's records should remain sealed.
The judge indicated that he would rule on the matter after he'd had a chance to think it over. End of transcript.
On Tuesday the judge said that the prosecutors could review the records, but not make them public.
Then, on Wednesday, (per the press, which actually did report on the story, despite Rush's remarks about how nobody else in the media is telling you this, "even though they are clearly all aware of it"), the judge reversed his ruling, and ordered that the records be resealed for at least 15 days while Roy prepared an appeal.
HOWEVER, per Rush:
The state advised my lawyer later in the day, yesterday that, Barry Krischer, who is the elected state attorney down here, told his investigators to go ahead and open my medical records, despite the requests from my lawyers and the consideration of a stay by the judge. Then this morning, the court granted the stay, but the prosecutors had already begun to read my records. So we got the stay; we got the delay; we have a chance to appeal the judge's decision, but the state went ahead and opened the records and had investigators poring through these things despite our request that they just wait until the judge just rule on our request for a stay.
Even though they could - I want to stress that the judge's order yesterday said - we personally asked them not to, just wait till the judge rules on our stay and they didn't, because I'm being treated differently than anyone else in this circumstance.
Poor Rush. Even though the judge said on Tuesday that the investigators could look at the records, they didn't respect Rush's privacy by waiting to see if the judge would change his mind, because, you see, Rush is treated differently than everybody else. He is the only one who ever has his privacy invaded, and it's just not fair!
Well, there was a young woman some 12 years ago named Patricia Bowman. She claimed she had been raped. But the attorney for the rich young man accused of the crime tried to make her medical history the real issue, and served subpoenas on numerous healthcare providers who had treated her during the 10 years before the trial.
Records were requested regarding where and when she had had an abortion, any drug rehabilitation programs she had attended, and even information about her contraception.
Mr. Black and his associates did not bother to tell health-care providers that the matter was under judicial review, so many of them unwittingly complied and gave up records that should have stayed sealed.
Prosecutors called the defense's actions "unconscionable." Judge Lupo was so irritated that she denied the records' admittance.
"The court will not excuse defense counsel's abuse of the rules," the judge said. "(Smith) may not use the medical records wrongfully obtained."
But by then it was really too late. Mr. Black's team had the records, and somehow, some way, by someone, they were leaked to the media. Ms. Bowman was smeared, Mr. Smith was acquitted, and Mr. Black's rise to prominence was launched.
So, maybe Rush could get his attorney, Roy Black, to tell him about Ms. Bowman, so he'd know it's not just him. I'm sure it would make him feel a lot better.
4:36:29 AM
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