When presidential hopeful Clinton speaks to her audience about health care now, a fewer tears will flow.

Clinton, who uses the advocacy of health care as one of her platforms, has been asked to stop using a certain story as her shtick in getting her point across. This story, it seems, has partaken in a round-about game of "telephone."

The story is of a woman and her unborn child who is refused medical care due to lack of insurance. As a result, both the mother and child later die. The story is a little raw, but has been effective.

A sheriff was responsible for telling Clinton this story while she was campaigning in Ohio. Touched by it, she adopted this story as her platform mascot, of sorts, due to the overwhelming reception of these platform ideas that Clinton was representing.

It wasn't until the Washington Post released the name of the woman, Trina Bachtel, that the full truth started to unfold.

A local Ohio paper, The Daily Sentinel, also backed up this information the next day.

This prompted investigations from any hospitals or clinics involved, and spokespersons for these facilities were very quick to defend the integrity and reputations of the health care practices.

In a report from The New York Times, it was found that Batchel did indeed have insurance. The hospital had simply asked her to start paying an old hospital bill (from when she didn't have insurance) in the amount of $100 with each visit. Bachtel could not afford this, and therefore postponed receiving medical attention.

It was originally the lack of insurance that created Bachtel's barrier. Even though she had insurance at the time, the payments of $100 with each visit created the situation leading to this sad event.

I think that if I was using this example in my campaigns, I would want to check out the validity of the story, especially if I was using it to drive a point home. It just goes to show that media has an invaluable presence in America.

Yes, there are some things that go awry because media gets involved; but in an instance like this, it takes the media to get the truth out and make potential presidential candidates accountable for the veracity of words and allegories.

The news media really does have an incredible way of acting as a "checks and balances" system, and more often than naught.