Dr. Dean Lorich, Who Exposed Clinton Foundation Haiti Response, Found Dead-Truth! and Fiction!
Summary of eRumor:
Dr. Dean Lorich, a surgeon who exposed the Clinton Foundation’s bungled 2010 disaster response in Haiti, was found dead in December 2017.
The Truth:
Dr. Dean Lorich was found dead in his New York City apartment in December 2017. Theories that Lorich’s death was related to him “exposing” the Clinton Foundation’s response to the 2010 disaster in Haiti don’t check out, however.
Dean Lorich, 53, was found dead in his Manhattan apartment on December 10, 2017, from an apparent stab wound to the chest. Police said there was no sign of forced entry, and that his wife and daughter were out at the time. And, although no suicide note was left, the NYPD said Lorich’s death appeared to be a suicide.
Within days, however, conspiracy theories about Dean Lorich’s death surfaced on fringe websites. Lorich became known as “the doctor who exposed Clinton Foundation corruption in Haiti.” It was implied that Lorich’s death could be related to his earlier affiliation with the Clinton Foundation.
That makes Dean Lorich the latest in the long-running Clinton body count conspiracy theory. The idea is that Bill and Hillary Clinton have murdered political opponents over the years, leaving a trail of bodies in their wake.
Did Dr. Dean Lorich Expose Clinton Foundation Corruption in Haiti?
Dr. Dean Lorich was a recognized orthopedic trauma surgeon. He operated on sports stars and celebrities, including U2’s Bono after a 2014 bike crash. Lorich also worked on a medical team that deployed to Haiti in the wake of the 2010 earthquake. That’s where his (alleged) ties to the Clinton Foundation come in.
The Clinton Foundation has been accused of mismanaging billions of dollars in relief funds for Haiti, and the overall disaster response there. Those accusations don’t check out, however. The Clinton Foundation raised $28 million for Haiti disaster relief. And the foundation claims that “every penny was deployed on the ground,” and no donations went to overhead. Hillary Clinton was, however, appointed interim chair of the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission (IHRC). Haitian Parliament disbanded the commission in 2011, frustrated with slow recovery.
So, where does Dr. Dean Lorich come in? Within 24 hours of the earthquake, Lorich deployed with a team of 13 surgeons to establish a trauma center in Haiti. But things didn’t go as planned. Immediately, Haiti’s devastated infrastructure, lack of security and inadequate medical services caused problems. In a 2010 CNN editorial, Lorich wrote:
We thought our plan was a good one, but we soon learned we were incredibly naive. Disaster management in Haiti was nonexistent.
The difficulties in getting in — despite the intelligence we had from people on the ground and Dr. Helfet’s connections with Partners in Health and Bill and Hillary Clinton — only hinted at the difficulties we would have once we arrived.
That’s Lorich’s only reference to the Clinton Foundation in the op-ed. And he doesn’t blame Clinton Foundation corruption for the problems in Haiti. Rather, Lorich blames the lack of an official response. A government organization should have stepped up to take charge of the “shameful” medical response, Lorich wrote.
Connection Between Dr. Dean Lorich’s Death and the Clinton Foundation?
Given Dr. Dean Lorich’s experiences in Haiti, insinuations that his death was related to the Clinton Foundation took flight almost immediately. Websites like Your News Wire ran reports that described Lorich’s death and his so-called exposure of Clinton Foundation corruption in Haiti. The insinuation was that the Clinton Foundation had Lorich killed.
There are a number of problems with that conspiracy theory. First, Lorich didn’t expose Clinton Foundation corruption in Haiti. Again, he raised awareness about dreadful conditions there that had largely been caused by lack of leadership by an official government agency. Lorich also voiced those views in an email to a Clinton Foundation official that was later included in the WikiLeaks email dump. Again, Lorich wasn’t critical of the Clinton Foundation in the email.
And new details about Lorich’s last days have emerged. Lorich was stripped of his admitting privileges at New York-Presbyterian Hospital days before his apparent suicide. Lorich had also been sued within the last year by a former NFL player who accused Lorich of ruining his career. There’s no way to know what could have motivated Lorich to commit suicide, but there were signs of significant professional issues at the time.
In the end, we’re calling this one truth and fiction. It’s true that Dr. Dean Lorich was found dead. But it’s false that Lorich exposed Clinton Foundation corruption in Haiti, and his death has been ruled a suicide.