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Democratic gubernatorial candidateย Wendy Davisย has released a new ad accusing Republican rivalย Greg Abbottย of siding with a hospital over the victims of aย “sociopath” doctor.

The Davis ad, echoing earlier attacks against Abbott for allegedly protecting “insider” networks, points to political donations to the Republican from Drayton McLane, chairman of the network of hospitals that included Baylor Regional Medical Center, where the doctor, Christopher Duntsch, worked. Two of his patients died after he performed neurosurgery on them.

โ€œWeeks after accepting a quarter-million dollar campaign contribution from the hospitalโ€™s chairman, Greg Abbott got involved, using his office to go to court against the victims,โ€ according to the ad’s voiceover.

Abbott’s campaign said the ad was inaccurate, contending that McLane, whose position was unpaid, hadย no financial interestย in Baylor Regional. And the attorney general’s role in the lawsuit, his officeย has said, was to defend the state’s medical malpractice law, not to protect the hospital.

โ€œAt the rate Sen. Davis is going this week, not only will she exhaust the fact checkers, she wonโ€™t have any lies left for Fridayโ€™s debate,โ€ said Abbott spokeswoman Amelia Chassรฉ.

Disclosure: The Baylor Health Care System is a corporate sponsor of The Texas Tribune.ย A complete list of Texas Tribune donors and sponsors can be viewedย here.

 Learn about The Texas Tribuneโ€™s policies, including our partnership with The Trust Project to increase transparency in news.

Edgar Walters worked at the Tribune from 2013 to 2020, most recently covering health and human services. Before that, he had a political reporting fellowship with the Berliner Zeitung, a daily newspaper...