Oliver cited an interview with Facenda and his mother and primary caregiver, Joann, on the difficulties faced by people with disabilities as the state shifted to for-profit “managed care organizations”, leaving Facenda spending hours in dirty diapers.
Oliver played audio from Morley’s testimony at a 2017 administrative hearing, that aired as such: “People have bowel movements every day where they don’t completely clean themselves, and we don’t fuss over [them] too much. People are allowed to be dirty … You know, I would allow him to be a little dirty for a couple of days.”
Oliver said of the snippet: “Look, I’ll be honest, when I first heard that, I thought that has to be taken out of context. There is no way a doctor, a licensed physician, would testify in a hearing that he thinks it’s okay if people have shit on them for days. So, we got the full hearing, and I’m not going to play it for you, I’m just going to tell you: he said it, he meant it, and it made me want to punch a hole in the wall.
“If I absolutely had to put it into words, I guess I’d say fuck that doctor with a rusty canoe, I hope he gets tetanus of the balls,” he continued. “And if he has a problem with my language there, I’d say I’m allowed to be dirty. People are allowed to be a little dirty sometimes, apparently that’s doctors fucking orders.”
Oliver also added that legally, he was required to say that AmeriHealth Caritas restored the patient’s services, but called it a “disgrace” that it was disrupted in the first place.
The lawsuit argues that context cut from the show changes the meaning of Morley’s words, which they quote as thus: “In certain cases, yes, with the patient with significant comorbidities, you would want to have someone wiping them and getting the feces off. But like I said, people have bowel movements every day where they don’t completely clean themselves and we don’t fuss over too much. People are allowed to be dirty. It’s when the dirty and the feces and the urine interfere with, you know, medical safety, like in someone who has concomitant comorbidities that you worry, but not in this specific case. I would allow him to be a little dirty for a couple days.”
I don’t see how the full quote meaningfully changes the meaning of the words
He’ll be hearing from the United States Blondtourney General’s Office.
Dam that medical director better not go bar hopping in NYC then
In a related question: why aren’t radical fascist news outlets and pundits being sued nonstop for billions for slander and defamation? It’s literally their entire content structure.
Clearly he doesn’t know how many times other people tried to sue this show. It back fired spectacularly
I love it.
It’s free advertising for John and creates a Streisand effect for the things he calls out.
I bet the old HBO absolutely loves it too. Not certain about the new HBO owners.
Someone needs to introduce this guy to the Streisand effect.
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The full quote, in context, IS NOT BETTER.
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The only reason I maintain Max is John Oliver and, while I remember this show NOW, I had completely forgotten it until this story.
If they cancel LWT, I cancel Max. 100%
Indeed, the full quote is not better at all :)) You probably already know this, but Last Week Tonight posts their full episodes on their youtube channel. I’m also just keeping Max as a subscription, but for other reasons :) although if they bump the price once more I might reconsider
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It’s only dangerous to sit in shit if you have open sores on your ass. The kind of sores that tend to form if you sit in shit for days.
There’s true medical danger, and then there’s the humanity part of this. Both piss me off to hear this, but the latter really gets me. There’s something very dark about the care falling out of Healthcare.
Can’t wait for John’s new musical number
“I would allow him to be a little dirty for a couple days.”
It’s this sentence right here. It doesn’t matter what comes before or after it, it’s that sentence that makes Morley into a complete sociopath. Be a little dirty? A couple of fucking days? Get fucked. I wouldn’t let my dog be dirty for a couple of days. I don’t let my shoes be dirty for a couple of days. Leaving a person under your care with shit in their pants when they can’t do anything about it for a couple of days means you aren’t human anymore. You have forfeit your humanity. I don’t think we are part of the same species. You are something less than me now, and I don’t like you.
And he was the medical director of AmeriHealth Caritas with about 5 million people in 13 states under his care. Also, I don’t believe for 1 second that his views are unique in a profit driven health care industry - the whole concept of profit driven health care is obscene.
Sounds like we need another Free Market correction by an Italian plumber.
Mama Mia!
Plus the use of “allow” is interesting when the patient is actually forced to live in this condition.
Right?! It almost makes it sound like the patients prefer living that way and the doctor is reeling them back in (which is obviously not the case)
If he doesn’t want to be dirty then he shouldn’t poo /s
Yeah, I think it’s really the timeframe. Days. If you cannot clean them immediately because of pressing things that prevent you, OK. If that takes 10-15 minutes, OK. If that takes an hour, maybe OK. If that takes any longer, we are getting slowly to a not OK. Days, absolutely not OK. How can that be medically safe according to this doctor?
It doesn’t really matter if it’s medically safe. It’s just disgraceful.
Right, even if it was medically safe, it infringes on the persons basic human dignity.
Not disgraceful. Supervised neglect. And that is assault.
It doesn’t. They’re trying to get a big chunk of money out of Oliver to make the studio shut him up.
It’s not about Olver being wrong. It’s about controlling the bounds of acceptable language. People like Oliver make the zeitgeist a little to comfortable in calling out their supposed ““betters””
It’s their first encounter with John Oliver? Others have tried and failed miserably.
Oliver has very beefy litigation insurance. He had to up it after the Eat Shit Bob guy sued him.
Oliver won that case.
All of his stories are researched and vetted through legal before they air. The only thing the insurance company is trying to do is chill public comment. They’ll lose the court case but will cost them. We’re just lucky that Oliver has the resources to mount a defense.
Weaponizing defamation lawsuits is their new strategy against critics. They got ABC to settle for a fortune, even though Stephanopoulos was factually correct. Im sure the lawyers told George not to take it personally, its only business. Except now they can claim George lied, and Disney admitted it by paying.
I honestly can’t wait for the episode calling this one out. I hope he commissions a rusty canoe to send to this shitbag.
He should just flashback to the first segment, “apologize” for taking it out of context, and quote the Dr’s “context” while holding a rusty canoe and waving his eyebrows suggestively at the camera
the episode calling this one out
Episodes, plural. It should become a running gag.
He’s done it before? Remember the Squirrel? And the crazy fucker who said out loud that it talked to him?
I’m not sure what compels these people to walk up to John and basically say, “Please embarrass me in front of the nation for a whole season, and toss in some lawyer fees while you’re at it.” But they do.
as long as it doesn’t replace the sexy horse
Another song like “eat shit bob” in the making i hope!
Defamation and tort laws is why people are afraid to say their mind
Defamation torts yes, other torts get blown away out of proportion. The most “frivolous” lawsuits come from the rich, who knows you don’t have the money to defend yourself.
At best, I can read it as:
“Look, my job is to treat people, not clean them. I ain’t wiping your ass unless it is a health hazard”
But that’s not really any better.
This happens from to time to time to John. I don’t think he has ever lost.
Especially when their commentary is on the money. This will be good exposure for the show & they should loose the suit. I mean comedy much? On the other hand, this is US - world leader in bullshit legal system.
Ah, another Eat Shit Bob Musical in the making. Good on you Morley (sounds almost like Murray hehehe)
John Oliver is the actual president of the USA, society is just having a nightmare.
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✍︎ arscyni.cc: modernity ∝ nature.
