Hot Health Headlines

Study looks at financial conflicts in health journalism

A paper just published in BMJ discusses financial ties between medical journalists and the companies they cover. The authors look at three areas of "entanglement": education of journalists, awards for journalists, and the actual practice of journalism.

EPA responds to contaminated groundwater in Washington

Leah Beth Ward of the Yakima (Wash.) Herald-Republic writes that her series on high levels of nitrate in Washington wells has elicited response from the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA has begun bringing together local, state and federal agencies in an effort to solve groundwater contamination in the Lower Yakima Valley.

Overprescribing Nev. doctor loses license after newspaper investigation

Marshall Allen of the Las Vegas Sun writes that Nevada health authorities stripped Dr. Kevin Buckwalter of his license to prescribe controlled substances, alleging four cases of malpractice, including one patient death due to excessive prescribing of narcotics. Buckwalter was the subject of an investigation by the Sun in September. 

Investigation finds wide range of payments among hospitals

A Boston Globe investigation uncovered the "best-kept secret" in Massachusetts medicine: Health insurance companies pay a handful of hospitals far more for the same work even when there is no evidence that the higher-priced care produces healthier patients.

Number of factors contribute to closures of LA hospitals

Deborah Crowe of the Los Angeles Business Journal writes a story detailing the financial and logistical woes of the Los Angeles hospital scene. According to the article, this past year, 14 hospitals with emergency rooms close, leaving fewer than 100 hospitals to serve nearly 10 million people spread across 4,000 square miles. That's far fewer hospitals than many other cities on a per capita basis.

MRSA series part 3: State, advocates push hospitals to reveal infection rates

Michael Berens and Ken Armstrong investigate MRSA – methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus – in Washington hospitals, analyzing millions of records to track one of the nation's most widespread and preventable epidemics.

Group lobbies for more responsible use of statistics in the media

Rebecca Goldin, research director for the Statistical Assessment Service, recently spoke about journalists' failures to dissect statistics in news reports. Her talk illustrated how the media miss the mark in the use and presentation of statistics in stories about the economy, health, science, and education.

CDC study on children in FEMA trailers delayed

ProPublica's Joaquin Sapien writes a follow up to the investigation into the CDC response to formaldehyde findings in FEMA trailers. This is installment looks at the lack of progress made by the CDC in conducting a study of the health of children who lived in the trailers.

Lack of food knowledge fuels obesity epidemic, British chef says

Helen Pidd of The Guardian writes about a chef who blames the obesity epidemic in Britain on lack of knowledge about food and cooking.

Google takes another step toward outbreak detection, response

The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal report on Google Flu Trends, a Web site that maps flu outbreaks based on people's searches for terms related to the flu. The site was built in collaboration with Google.org's Predict and Prevent Initiative, led by Mark Smolinski, a doctor whose interest in outbreaks was sparked by the 1993 hantavirus outbreak in Arizona. A speech by one of Google.org's epidemiologists at the March 2008 International Conference on Emerging Infectious Diseases, outlines the initiative and offers some insight into the future of using technology to track and predict outbreaks.

Hospitals donate surplus to international facilities

Victoria Colliver of the San Francisco Chronicle writes that the Bay Area's three largest hospital chains have signed on as donor partners with nonprofit MedShare International, which sends surplus medical materials overseas to hospital and medical clinics.

Critics skeptical of TV show's portrayal of prescription drugs

Marylyn Donahue of PharmExec.com writes about the television show "House" and recent questions raised about possible paid product placements for drugs. A recent episode featured the use of the drug Lupron to treat hypogonadism, which is not an FDA-approved use for it, just as a newer pulse-dose Lupron is currently being evaluated as a treatment for hypogonadism in a FDA-registered clinical trial.

Mammogram centers operate despite serious inspection violations

WGCL-Atlanta examined FDA records of mammogram facility inspections and found that dozens are operating after being cited for serious violations. The violations range from everything from failing to prove doctors are board certified, state licensed, or even qualified to read mammograms, to equipment failing crucial quality control tests.

Hospitals suffer effects of lagging economy

In a story that could be done nearly everywhere, The New York Times' Reed Abelson reports that hospitals are "seeing fewer paying patients even as greater numbers of people are showing up at emergency rooms unable to pay their bills."

Aging: How to prepare for the future and cope right now

Lois M. Collins and Elaine Jarvick of The Deseret News (Utah) wrote a series of articles about aging. The three days of stories touch on topics like how to take care of aging parents, how people should cope mentally and physically for aging, and society's view on the issue.

Who will lead HHS and FDA in the new administration?

Alicia Mundy posts on The Wall Street Journal's Health Blog about possible leaders for the two agencies in the Barack Obama administration, while Jame Sarasohn-Kahn at the Health Care Blog has some thoughts on filling health cabinet and key office posts.

High school players at risk of 'second-impact syndrome'

Tom Wyrwich of The Seattle Times writes about high school football players who sustain repeated concussions and suffer from a rare condition - almost unheard of in adults - called second-impact syndrome. Some players attempt to hide the symptoms of a concussion to keep playing. In addition, a shortage of certified athletic trainers leaves coaches to make medical decisions about whether players should return to the game.

Helicopter crashes put necessity into question

In continuing coverage of problems with Maryland's medevac system, Robert Little of The (Baltimore) Sun  reviewed crash records and other documents on the 26 fatal medevac crashes in the United States since 2003.

He found that at least eight involved patients who waited longer for a helicopter than a ground ambulance might have needed to drive them to a hospital; at least six were for patients discharged soon after a helicopter dropped them off at a hospital, or who survived a lengthy ambulance ride after the helicopter sent to get them went down.

U.S. regulators' inspections of foreign drug makers inadequate

Gardiner Harris writes in The New York Times Magazine about the discrepancy between FDA regulations and inspections for drug manufacturers in foreign countries.

According to the article, over the past six years, the FDA has managed to inspect annually an average of just 15 of the 714 Chinese drug plants that export to the United States. At its present pace, the F.D.A. would need more than 50 years to visit all of these Chinese plants. By contrast, the FDA inspects domestic drug plants every 2.7 years.

Calif. nursing license bureau granted renewals to known felons

Tracy Weber and Charles Ornstein of ProPublica, in a Los Angeles Times article, write that the California Bureau of Vocational Nursing and Psychiatric Technicians continued to renew licenses of people it knew to be convicted felons.

Editorial: Approach health care like baseball

In the Op-Ed section of the New York Times, Billy Beane, Newt Gingrich and John Kerry use an analogy to baseball to describe what needs to be done to improve the U.S. health care system. They say that by using statistical measures to measure the effectiveness of players and plays instead of simply spending the most money, teams like the Tampa Bay Rays have been able to succeed while spending a lot less money.

Heart care business booming

Phil Galewitz of The Palm Beach Post put together a multimedia package that explores the booming heart care industry. Stories look at medical devices, heart disease tests and the low detection of heart disease in women.

Thousands of Atlanta children unvaccinated, violate state law

Alison Young of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution found that at least 99 schools' kindergartners and 81 schools' sixth-graders in metro Atlanta failed to meet state vaccination standards.

Unrevealed details of Obama's health plan worry small businesses

The New York Times' Kevin Sack writes about the fears some small business owners have about presidential candidate Barack Obama'a health care plan.

Hospital's stance on transparency shaken by medical errors, controversies

Patricia Wen of The Boston Globe writes about Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, a hospital that prides itself on transparency but has suffered some public-relations blows after reporting a number of errors in recent months.

Inefficient insurance industry seeks to change image

Daniel J. Costello, Lisa Girion and Michael A. Hiltzick of the Los Angeles Times write a three-part series about the health insurance industry.

Social influences and location play a role in health, experts say

Angelo Bruscas writes about how social influences impact health on the Seattle Post-Intelligencer's Big Blog. According to David Williams, a professor of public health at Harvard University, a strong disparity exists in a person's health in relation to that individual's race and other socioeconomic factors, in particular, the link between health and where someone lives.

Chicago hospital for sale; lost $15 million in revenues

The Chicago Tribune's Becky Yerak and Bruce Japsen write that Chicago's Lincoln Park Hospital is for sale, partly because the difficulties of getting financing are making it difficult to run the facility.

Pharmaceutical companies scared of online social media

Jim Edwards writes in Brandweek about why pharmaceutical companies have avoided online social media, such as bulletin boards, chat rooms and blogs, and the pressure to change.

Does economic crisis mean less federal spending by the next president?

Jonathan Cohn, a senior editor at The New Republic, writes about whether Sen. Barack Obama would, or should, pare back the major federal spending he's promising for things like health care, education and energy if he's elected president.

Government overlooks high nitrate levels in rural Wash. wells

An investigation by Leah Beth Ward of the Yakima (Wash.) Herald-Republic looks into a little-noticed study that found that one in five wells in the Lower Yakima Valley contained nitrates above federal standards. The multiple-part series looks into how this affects peoples lives, why so little has been done and how other areas have tackled the problem.

Drug-resistant infections a concern for athletes

The news about NFL player Kellen Winslow and his battle with a staph infection might prompt reporters to investigate infection control measures in use by local teams – whether high school, college or pro. Learn much more about drug-resistant infections with AHCJ's comprehensive primer on methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).

Coverage of health care in the election nearly doubles in one week

Chris Weaver writes in the Health Care Blog that coverage of health care issues in the presidential election nearly doubled during the week between the Palin-Biden debate and John McCain and Barack Obama's last debate.

Consumer-marketed breast cancer gene tests need more regulation

Arthur Caplan, director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania, writes an article on MSNBC.com about the rise of genetic testing kits sold directly to consumers which claim to allow women "to assess their personal risk for the common forms of breast cancer."

California looks into nurse's criminal backgrounds

ProPublica's Charles Ornstein and Tracey Weber conducted an investigation that looked into nurses with criminal records, finding that more than 115 recent cases in which the state of California didn't seek to pull or restrict licenses until nurses had three or more criminal convictions.

PolitiFact examines presidential candidates and their health care statements

Angie Drobnic Holan of PolitiFact and the St. Petersburg Times writes about health care as the last of a four-part series on key issues in the presidential election.

Health insurance exclusions can be unexpected

Jonathan Cohn writes a story for Self that looks at why people, healthy or unhealthy, are sometimes denied for health insurance coverage.

Health care questions for the debate

AHCJ PresidentTrudy Lieberman, writing for CJR.org, outlines 12 questions about health care that should be posed during the presidential candidate's debate. 

'Scientific flaws, ineffective leadership' led to CDC's slow reaction to formaldehyde in trailers

Joaquin Sapien of ProPublica writes an article that explores why the CDC was slow to respond to the formaldehyde problem in FEMA trailers in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. ProPublica examined hundreds of pages of e-mails and other documents and interviewed former and current CDC scientists and officials.

Calif. nursing board fails to act after criminal convictions

Charles Ornstein and Tracy Weber report that dozens of nurses convicted of crimes, including sex offenses and attempted murder, have remained fully licensed to practice in California for years before the state nursing board acted against them.

Consumers spending less on health care

In a Wall Street Journal article, Vanessa Fuhrmans writes that spending on health care – including doctors' appointments, preventive tests and prescription drugs – is declining.

As economy declines, health care reform may be even more necessary

Julie Rovner writes about health care reform in CongressDaily and whether it is really out of the question after the economic crisis.

Roundup: How the economy is affecting hospitals

Recent articles in a variety of publications have discussed the implications the U.S. financial crisis is having on hospitals, including postponing bond sales intended to fund capital improvement projects. Also included are some tip sheets to help reporters investigate the financial health of hospitals in their areas.

Companies send employees far away for best care, savings

A story by Bloomberg's Aliza Marcus looks into how Peabody Energy Corp., the world's largest coal producer, is offering health benefits to coal workers in Wyoming that involve seeking out the nation's best care and giving workers incentives to use it.

People's experiences drive series about the uninsured and underinsured

Michael Vitez of The Philadelphia Inquirer reports in an occasional series on the uninsured and the underinsured. Each story uses one person's case to exemplify one aspect of the problem and includes expert commentary on each case.

Media doesn't often mention pharma funding on research

Several organizations have covered the new study released in JAMA that finds that news articles reporting on medication studies often fail to report pharmaceutical company funding and frequently refer to medications by their brand names despite newspaper editors' contention that this is not the case. Read more about the study and see what AHCJ's Statement of Principles says about the standards journalists should meet when covering health and medicine.

Marine's suicide sheds light on PTSD

The New Yorker's William Finnegan writes about the struggle a marine with post-traumatic stress disorder faced upon returning home. Woven through the tale are facts about PTSD and how it is affecting more veterans of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan than previous wars and what is being done to address it.

Athletes to donate brains to concussion research

Alan Schwartz of The New York Times writes about retired NFL players and other athletes who are planning to give their brains to the Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy at Boston University's School of Medicine for the research of the long-term effects of concussions.

Medicare payments vary from county to county

In an article for the AARP Bulletin, Susan Jaffe writes about the disparities in Medicare payments from county to county in the United States. The article is accompanied by an interactive map that shows Medicare payments to insurance plans in every county that may provide a local angle for reporters who want to do their own stories.

Presidential candidates discuss health care

Glamour interviewed presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama on a variety of issues, including health care. McCain talked about his plan to provide a tax credit to individuals and families and how it would affect young women. Obama discussed his plan to lower premiums and covering the uninsured with a subsidized policy similar to the one congresspeople have. 

CDC investigates Morgellons complaints

In an article for Self, Maryn McKenna writes about a group of people with similar medical symptoms who are working to have their condition recognized as a disease. The syndrome is being referred to as Morgellons and the symptoms include swollen lymph nodes, fever, mental haziness and lesions that sprout a stiff fiber.

Ike raises concerns about safety of Galveston bio lab

Emily Ramshaw of The Dallas Morning News writes that Hurricane Ike is raising new questions about the prudence of housing deadly pathogens in Galveston's massive new national biodefense lab.

A University of Texas Medical Branch spokeswoman said the national lab, which is not yet open for research or specimens, withstood the storm well. At the campus' other high-security labs, there was some minor flooding in an unused basement, and a couple of generators failed, she said, but nothing endangered any research.

Nashville council members get lifetime city-subsidized health insurance

Brad Schrade of the (Nashville) Tennessean writes about a little-known benefit of being a Nashville Metro Council member – lifetime health insurance that is partially subsidized by taxpayers.

N.Y. school districts not meeting federal guidelines on cafeteria inspections

David Andreatta of the Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat & Chronicle writes that nearly two-thirds of schools in New York state are not receiving the twice-yearly health inspections required by federal law to curb food poisoning, making the state among the nation's worst offenders.

Private companies, not the FDA, increasingly perform food safety inspections

Kent Garber writes an article in U.S. News & World Report about how third-party "food-safety consultants" are increasingly taking over the job of making sure food manufacturers meet federal guidelines as the job grows larger and the FDA remains underfunded and understaffed.

Law change in British Columbia will put nurses' misconduct in the open

Chad Skelton of the Vancouver Sun writes that before a recently changed law, the College of Registered Nurses of British Columbia was not required to release details of a nurse's misconduct. The paper found that 45 nurses signed "consent agreements" with the college, voluntarily agreeing to a suspension of their right to practice nursing without going through a formal disciplinary hearing.

Silicon 'sharkskin' may be key to fighting bacteria

Kimberly S. Johnson of The Denver Post writes about two Denver-based entrepreneurs who are developing a product they hope will help fight the war on bacteria – a silicon film that mimics the shape and pattern of shark scales. 

Zip code analysis project will show disease activity by region

Kathryn Foxhall of Government Health IT writes that the National Minority Quality Forum has created the "ZIP Code Analysis Project" to collect data on disease activity among both general and minority populations by postal code.

More physicians switching to 'concierge care'

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Bill Hendrick writes about a growing number of doctors who are opting to run concierge practices, in which they charge patients anywhere from a few hundred dollars to $20,000 a year to stay in their practice. In return, physicians are accessible 24/7 by cell phone and e-mail, provide head-to-toe annual exams and build in time to allow for same-day visits.

Bipolar disorder in children still a mystery to experts

In her article in The New York Times Magazine, Jennifer Egan explores the diagnosis of bipolar disorder in children, how prevalent it is and what characterizes it as compared to the disorder in adults.

Health insurance crisis affects people of all life stages

Laura Ungar and Patrick Howington are the writers of a special report from the Louisville Courier-Journal about the health insurance crisis and the growing number of people who are uninsured and underinsured. The project looks at three groups of people who are affected by the crisis: families, young adults and senior citizens.

Canadian government launches natural health products database

An article in Medical News Today announces a new Canadian database that allows people to search for information on natural health care products.

As more tattoo businesses open, health violations increase

Jennifer L. Boen of the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel conducted an investigation on health issues in tattoo businesses, looking at five years of county health inspection reports. The story gives readers tips on what to look for in a reputable tattoo business and common problems cited in the inspection reports.

Nev. doctor investigated for pain medicine prescriptions

The Las Vegas Sun's Marshall Allen investigates a doctor who prescribed 1,530 doses of alprazolam; 11,350 oxycodone; 5,740 hydrocodone pills; and 1,440 doses of hydromorphone to a single patient over the course of two and a half years.

Actuarial organization publishes, analyzes candidates' health care reform plans

Contingencies, a publication of the American Academy of Actuaries, has published articles about health care reform by Sen. John McCain and Sen. Barack Obama, as well as one by an actuary who weighs the candidates' proposals.

'Defensive medicine' adds to health care cost, risk to patients

Benjamin Brewer, M.D., a family physician who writes a column for wsj.com, this week writes about "defensive medicine." He describes the practice as "doing more tests, ordering more consults from specialists and exposing patients to the risks of radiation, invasive tests and treatments" to protect the practice from being sued.

Congress looks into medical device payments to doctors

In a three-part series, Minneapolis Star-Tribune reporter Janet Moore looks at payments made by medical device companies to doctors who consult for them. Congress and the Justice Department are looking into the practice and a bill is pending that would require companies to disclose payments by both drug and device companies.

Telepharmacies introduced to small towns

Associated Press reporter Dave Kolpack writes about a new way to administer drugs to people living in small towns that don't have a pharmacist: telepharmacies. The stores, manned by pharmacy technicians who are connected to a pharmacist via the Internet, allow customers to connect with real people who can answer questions about their drugs. Many customers in small towns receive drugs through the mail.

Congress requires Joint Commission to re-apply for accreditation privileges

Yamil Barnard's article in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram discusses why Congress is requiring the Joint Commission to re-apply for authority to certify that hospitals meet federal standards.

Was reporter's reassignment related to hospital's complaints?

Dean Starkman reports for Columbia Journalism Review that the Roanoke Times has reassigned reporter Jeff Sturgeon, who had been covering a local hospital. An earlier Wall Street Journal article had reported that Carilion Health System pulled its ads from the Roanoke Times "after repeatedly complaining about a reporter who had been aggressively covering the hospital."  Update: Editor comments

'Stand Up to Cancer' criticized by health blogosphere

Los Angeles Times' Rosie Mestel writes in the health blog Booster Shots about criticism of the recent telethon, including the participation of journalists and unproven statements that aired on the show.

Article offers tips on searching for medical research articles

An article in Rehabilitation Nursing provides an overview of key sources of evidence and how to effectively search for and review research. The article discusses what is available from PubMed, the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature and the Web of Science. It uses a case study to illustrate methods of searching.

Medical school keeps chancellor search private

Kenneth Heard of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette writes that the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences will use a private company to search for its new chancellor and to help them keep the search private.

Measures expand campaign to reduce antibiotic use

The Wall Street Journal's Laura Landro writes that two of the leading hospital purchasing groups are mounting new campaigns to reduce the use of antibiotics. A growing number of bacteria that have developed resistance to common drugs. Some two million people acquire bacterial infections in U.S. hospitals each year, and 90,000 of those patients die as a result.

With no monitoring system, cheerleading injuries go unrecorded

Jessica Meyers of The Dallas Morning News writes about the lack of safety regulation and injury monitoring in cheerleading, which is not considered a sport in Texas or most other states.

Doctors, hospitals bill patients for money they don't owe

BusinessWeek's Chad Terhune writes about a controversial practice called "balance billing" in which doctors or hospitals, unhappy with insurance payments, bill the balance directly to patients. This common practice often is illegal.

Schools weigh costs, benefits of defibrillators for athletes

Jonathan Kay of The Orange County Register writes about some schools that are adopting defibrillator programs as awareness of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, the No. 1 killer of American athletes, what one doctor says is the top killer of American athletes, grows.

EPA fails to provide data for some widely used chemicals

Meg Kissinger and Susanne Rust of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel write about an Environmental Protection Agency program that started 10 years ago promising to give consumers safety information about roughly 3,000 chemicals that are made in volumes of 1 million pounds or more each year. They found that information is unavailable for 278 chemicals.

Police find filthy conditions in nursing home that passed inspections

The Cincinnati Enquirer's Eileen Kelley and Dan Horn write about a nursing home for the mentally ill that passed state and city health department for five years before city police entered and found numerous sanitary problems.

Heart attack patient dies in ER waiting for treatment

Marshall Allen of the Las Vegas Sun reports the story of a man who died in an emergency room of a heart attack after waiting an hour for staff to fill out paperwork. The man had a genetic heart condition, had been treated at the same hospital a week before for a heart attack and was sure he was having a heart attack when he arrived on the night he died.

Physicians, patients say insurance companies interfere with care

Toledo Blade reporters Steve Eder and Julie M. McKinnon conducted an eight-month investigation, examining whether insurance companies were keeping patients from getting the care their doctors ordered. The investigation included interviews with about 100 physicians and a national survey of doctors with more than 900 responses.

Concussions overlooked by veteran health system

The New York Times' Lizette Alvarez writes a story about how a growing number of combat veterans are coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan with mild traumatic brain injuries, or concussions, caused by powerful explosions. She focuses on veterans who remain unscreened, undiagnosed or overlooked by the veteran health system.

Expert says candidates' health care plans may not save money

National Public Radio's Joanne Silberner reports that, according to analysts, the presidential candidates' plans to save money on health care may not actually pay off financially in the long run.

Young scientists openly post research online

Carolyn Y. Johnson of The Boston Globe writes about a trend that a new generation of scientists are embracing – posting research ideas, processes and results on the Internet before they're published in a major journal.

Army forces coordinator to resign after leaking information to the press

USA Today's Gregg Zoraya writes about an Army social services coordinator in Fort Sill, Okla., who was forced to resign from his job after telling the newspaper about poor conditions at the unit for wounded soldiers in the city.

L.A. task force looks to stop illegal prescription drug sales

Capitol Public Radio's Kelley Weiss reports on how a team of Los Angeles County health officers is working with law enforcement to bust swap meets where drugs are sold without prescriptions.    

HIPAA violations go unpunished

Clark Kauffman of the Des Moines Register reports that despite privacy laws, dozens of Iowa health care workers have been disciplined by their employers for snooping through the medical records. A review of records found that none of them has been prosecuted for violating the federal patient-privacy law known as HIPAA.

Government releases new hospital death rates

USA Today's Steve Sternberg and Anthony DeBarros report that the U.S. Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services released new estimates of heart attack, heart failure and pneumonia death rates for every U.S. hospital for two years.

Shock therapy sees recent upsurge

MSNBC.com health writer Melissa Dahl reports on the recent increase in patients seeking shock therapy.

911 response problems continue in Bay Area

San Francisco Chronicle staff writer Jim Doyle reports on the continued problems for 911 personnel in San Francisco. Despite promises from city officials to make changes, improvement has been hard to come by because of a lack of resources and language barriers.

The pros and cons of medical marijuana

Jill U. Adams of the Los Angeles Times writes about the medical marijuana debate and looks at what science has to say about the medical pros and cons, and some mitigating factors.

Series of hospital errors, delays lead to death; family seeks legal closure

Mark Taylor writes a series of articles for the Post-Tribune of Northwest Indiana investigating a surgery patient's death in a for-profit physician-owned hospital.

Hospitals use radio frequency technology to track equipment

David Raths of KMWorld magazine writes that some hospitals are adopting radio frequency identification (RFID) technology to track lost equipment.

Nursing homes evict patients in favor of more profitable care

Wall Street Journal reporter Theo Francis reports on nursing homes that evict patients and what reasons the homes have used to make room for more short-term rehabilitation care.

NPR looks into health care around world

An NPR series examines the health care systems of several countries with a focus on those that provide universal health care, including France, Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands and England.

Wing of L.A. County jail is nation's largest mental hospital

NPR's Renee Montagne reports that the the nation's largest mental hospital is actually a wing of the Los Angeles County jail with 1,400 patients.

'Normalization of deviance' among reasons for ignoring wrongdoing

Marshall Allen of the Las Vegas Sun looks into why "trained professionals apparently ignored strong evidence of wrongdoing" in two recent high-profile cases in Nevada – an outbreak of hepatitis C and abuse of foreign doctors.

Medical negligence cases among those sealed by Okla. courts

Tulsa World staff writer Ginnie Graham reports on Oklahoma courts sealing records that are normally open to the public – including malpractice lawsuits and other cases involving health care. In Oklahoma County, Graham found 26 cases involving medical negligence that have been sealed; there were 21 in Tulsa County.

Widespread Medicare fraud plagues S. Fla.

Miami Herald reporter Jay Weaver writes about rampant Medicare fraud in south Florida. In one example, Weaver writes "In 2005, South Florida clinics – mostly concentrated in Miami-Dade – submitted $2.2 billion in HIV-drug infusion bills to Medicare, according to the inspector general. That was 22 times more than the total HIV infusion claims submitted to Medicare by healthcare clinics in the rest of the country combined. The trend continues to this day."

Journalism groups warn newsrooms against unhealthy alliances with hospitals

AHCJ and the Society of Professional Journalists are urging local broadcast stations and newspapers to avoid arrangements with hospitals that improperly influence health coverage, saying unethical partnerships interfere with independent news coverage of health care.

McCain's health proposals under the microscope

In a five-part series in the Columbia Journalism Review, Trudy Lieberman, AHCJ president and director of the Health and Medicine Reporting Program in the Graduate School of Journalism at City University of New York, examines John McCain's health care proposals and how they have been covered in the press.

University program targets forgotten HIV patients

Miami Herald reporter Fred Tasker writes about a university program that seeks to help crack-addicted HIV patients who are slipping through the system.

Insurance for newborns not a sure bet

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reporter Bill Toland writes about the problems two Pittsburgh families have had in getting insurance for their newborn children. Highmark, Pittsburgh's dominant health insurer, started screening newborns for "pre-existing" conditions and denying care based on the screenings.

Nev. ignored problems in foreign doctor program

Las Vegas Sun reporter Marshall Allen continues to write about the problems that have plagued a program that was designed to use foreign doctors to work in underserved areas. His latest findings reveal that doctors had contacted the state but their complaints were ignored.

Deportation by hospitals spurring debate

New York Times reporter Deborah Sontag writes about hospitals that deport immigrants, sometimes using questionable practices, that they can no longer afford to treat. Critics of the practice charge that it is "international patient dumping."

Newspaper cutbacks affect Fla. health coverage

Tim Collie, writing for Florida Health News, reports on the toll that staffing cuts at Florida newspapers are likely to have on health coverage. Veteran reporters say demanding issues are going uncovered as experienced reporters leave and those that remain must cover more beats.

Former news director wins award for stand against hospital deal

Glen Mabie resigned as news director of WEAU-Eau Claire, Wis., in January when he objected to an agreement in which the station would run medical stories featuring Sacred Heart Hospital employees and not those of other Chippewa Valley hospitals or clinics. In the deal, the hospital would pay an undisclosed amount of money to the station.

Coordinator helps Guatemalans understand Western medicine

Vista Magazine's Andrea Alegria chronicles the work of Idalia Xuncax who is helping Guatemalans in Los Angeles become acquainted with the benefits of Western medicine.

Blogs influence health news and policy debates

The Kaiser Family Foundation recently sponsored a discussion about the growing influence of blogs on health news and policy debates.The briefing looks at how the traditional health policy world has embraced blogging and features a keynote address by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt, the first cabinet officer to author an official blog, followed by a moderated discussion with a variety of health policy bloggers and a media analyst.

Charity executive's salary remains high despite cuts in service

Washington Post staff writer Philip Rucker reports on the state of Food and Friends, a Washington, D.C. charity that is cutting back while its executive director's salary remains high.

Widely used chemical stirs debate

David Lazarus of the Los Angeles Times writes about the controversy surrounding the use of perfluorooctanoic acid, commonly referred to as PFOA. The Environmental Protection Agency considers it potentially carcinogenic and wants businesses to voluntarily stop using by 2015 but the chemical industry says the EPA's studies were done on animals and there is no proof the chemical is harmful to people.

Paper's investigation finds problems in Wis. nursing homes

Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reporters Mary Zahn and Ben Poston deliver a two-part examination of problems in Wisconsin's nursing homes, including an increase in serious violations - apparently linked to the increase in homes owned by out-of-state corporations - and the difficulty people have in getting reliable information about homes before placing their loved ones in their care.

Problems caused by common pesticide on the rise

M.B. Pell and Jim Morris of The Center for Public Integrity report that pyrethrin, a common pesticide that comes from flowers, causes relatively few deaths but there have been an increasing number of other serious health problems.

People in health field among those who bought degrees from diploma mill

Bill Morlin and Jim Camden of The (Spokane, Wash.) Spokesman-Review report on people who have bought "phony and counterfeit high school and college degrees from a Spokane diploma mill." The U.S. Department of Justice has refused to release the list of buyers but the newspaper has obtained and published the list, which includes people tied to the government, military and educational institutions.

Document shows payments from welding industry to researchers

An investigation by Jim Morris, published by the Center for Public Integrity and Mother Jones, reveals that the makers of welding products have "paid more than $12.5 million to 25 organizations and 33 researchers, virtually all of whom have published papers dismissing connections between welding fumes and workers’ ailments."

Former bomb workers still face health, compensation problems

Rocky Mountain News reporter Laura Frank writes about the ongoing struggles for former nuclear bomb workers in their quest for treatment and compensation.

Doctors in S. Florida going without insurance

South Florida Sun-Sentinel reporter Bob LaMendola writes about the increase in uninsured doctors in southern Florida, leaving little recourse for patients who are injured or sickened as a result of a doctor's actions. A malpractice insurance broker says people see South Florida as the"uninsured-doctor capital of the world."

Drug maker sponsors journalism panel at Unity

David Armstrong reports in The Wall Street Journal's Health Blog that a lunch panel about diabetes at the Unity Convention for journalists in Chicago was sponsored by diabetes drug maker Novo Nordisk.

Small businesses navigate confusing world of insurance

New York Times reporter Reed Abelson chronicles the experiences of small businesses around the country as they deal with the costs and questions of health insurance.

Flame retardant may create more problems than it solves

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporters Susanne Rust and Meg Kissinger write about chlorinated Tris, a flame retardant that is widely used but can be harmful.

Joining Facebook yields a scoop

Ivan Oransky, managing editor for online at Scientific American and a member of AHCJ's board of directors, writes about becoming a Facebook convert after noticing some interesting details in a contact's profile that led to a story.

Calif. hospitals' errors revealed in filings

Los Angeles Times reporter Jordan Rau writes about errors in California hospitals that were revealed as part of a new state law.

Debate over nanotechnology safety continues

NPR's "Talk of the Nation" discusses the future of the field of nanotechology and the safety issues that must be addressed.

Kidney transplant disparities continue for African-Americans

Chicago Tribune reporter Deborah Shelton writes about the reasons why African-Americans are often left waiting for kidney transplants.

Nashville police use sedative to subdue

WSMV investigative reporter Demetria Kalodimos uncovers the unexpected use of a tranquilizer to subdue out-of-control people on the streets of Nashville.

Fragile X chromosome creating problems, interest

Time's Claudia Wallis reports on what having a defective gene on the X chromosome can do and what studies of it could generate in the future.

Series examines nurse shortage and solutions

Wichita Eagle reporter Roy Wenzl use a two-part series to examine the nurse shortage and what is being done to combat it. He writes about what is happening in Kansas and nationally.

Air Force unit evacuates troops from Iraq, Afghanistan

Carlos Avila Gonzalez, a photojournalist with the San Francisco Chronicle, uses photos and video to show how an Air Force unit evacuates injured troops from Iraq and Afghanistan. Gonzalez, who narrates the video, says the crew makes the run an average of once a week to evacuate injured troops.

PhRMA revises marketing guidelines

Jonathan D. Rockoff of The (Baltimore) Sun reports that the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America is revising its voluntary marketing guidelines to make sure that sales efforts focus on giving doctors the latest, most accurate information about drugs. But some critcs say the revision is a meaningless gesture.

Consultants offer expensive health advice

Boston Globe reporter Linda K. Wertheimer discusses the growth of firms offering personalized health advice for a substantial fee – ranging from $150 an hour to $100,000 a year. They offer advice on treatments and doctors and make sure patients' doctors are communicating with one another.

Governor's commission lifts mental health plan

Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporters Alan Judd and Andy Miller write about a new mental health plan in Georgia that isn't exactly original. The reporters found that "large sections of a report by Gov. Sonny Perdue's mental health commission were lifted, often verbatim, from a Michigan study published in 2004 and from two other sources" that were not credited.

Debate over disclosure of transplant risks continues

MSNBC.com writer JoNel Aleccia reports on the debate surrounding when to tell patients about possible risks in the organ transplant process.

Painkiller use on the rise in Nevada

Las Vegas Sun reporters Marshall Allen and Alex Richards report on an investigation that showed painkiller use in Nevada is well above the national average. They also found that just a few doctors are doing most of the prescribing.

Early signs of emphysema not just for older adults

Los Angeles Times writer Jeannine Stein reports on the damage that smoking can do to even the youngest of smokers. The damage includes signs of emphysema.

Ownership may be best predictor of quality in Utah nursing homes

Salt Lake Tribune reporter Matt Canham presents the results of a Tribune investigation into the quality of Utah nursing homes. For the investigation, the newspaper built a database of information about every home in the state and put that database online.

Surgery death rates going public in U.K.

The Guardian's John Carvel reports on the upcoming release of surgery death rate data for NHS hospitals in Britain.

Patients caught in struggles between doctors, insurers

San Francisco Chronicle reporter Victoria Colliver delivers a series about the difficulties patients face when caught between doctors and insurers.

Patients with eating disorders face insurance problems

Newsweek's Jessica Bennet reports on the hardships those who suffer from eating disorders and their families face in funding the treatment without the help of insurers.

Salmonella outbreak: A selection of recent stories

This roundup includes several recent stories about the salmonella outbreak that has been linked to tomatoes.

Photographer salutes Alzheimer's caregivers

Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Annette John-Hall reports on a local photographer that is saluting those who care for Alzheimer's patients through his photography.

Houston mental health system in crisis

KPRC-Houston investigative reporter Robert Arnold delivers a six-part series on the state of mental health care in Houston and Harris County, Texas. He discusses the burden the mentally ill put on the justice system, causes of the problems, programs that could be solutions and much more.

Can scrubs be a health risk?

In the Chicago Tribune, Terri Yablonsky Stat discusses whether hospital workers who wear scrubs outside the hospital could be putting their patients at risk.

Veterans in study not informed of risks, side effects

An ABC News and Washington Times investigation uncovers use of veterans as test subjects for drugs that can come with violent side effects.

Questions raised about bioethicist's ethics

Scienitic American's Brendan Borrell examines bioethicist Glenn McGee and his exit from his position as chief of Alden March Bioethics Institute. Borell writes that McGee "was denounced by editors at the Albany Law Review after they learned that he had apparently forged the signatures of his three co-authors on forms for a paper that he had submitted for publication." Some former colleagues say claims on his resume are overblown and that he claimed to have been offered a job when he had actually withdrawn from consideration before any offer was made.

Medical litter a growing but under-recognized problem

MSNBC.com health writer JoNel Aleccia writes about the problems caused by debris from devices placed in patients during procedures. One doctor says the incidence is probably on par with mistakes that have received far more attention: sponges and instruments left behind after surgery.

Patients turn to Web for advice, support

The (Baltimore) Sun's Joe Burris writes about the growing number of health Web sites and communities and how patients are using them for information and support.

Comprehensive plan for reform fails in Kansas

Kansas Public Radio reporter Bryan Thompson discusses what happened to the Kansas health reform initiative that was supposed to come to fruition in 2008.

Online maps show Toronto student vaccinations

Toronto Star Web editor Patrick Cain uses his "Map of the Week" package to show the distribution of vaccinations in Toronto schools in response to a recent rise in measles cases.

Aid agencies urged to avoid 'brain drain'

Sherri Fink of ProPublica.com writes about international health and development agencies that have called for reforms in how they provide aid. The voluntary code of conduct "urges aid agencies to refrain from creating 'internal brain drain' by hiring scarce government employees, such as doctors and nurses, away from the public sector in the very countries the groups are trying to help."

Weigh risks, benefits of electronic personal health records

Atlanta Journal Constitution reporter Dorothy Brooks writes about the benefits and drawbacks of personal health records and the companies that offer these services.

Researchers may not have disclosed full payment

New York Times reporters Gardiner Harris and Benedict Carey write about the controversy surrounding possible unreported payments given to prominent Harvard researchers.

Hughes' institute fosters scientific research

60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl reports on the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and what its large coffers have done for science. Researchers working under grants from the institute are able to do work they would not be able to do with government money and the restrictions that come with it.

Journals work to police picture tampering

The Chronicle of Higher Education's Jeffrey R. Young reports on the practices being implemented to police the world of images in journal articles.

Students watch influence of drug companies on teachers

Bernadette Tansey of the San Francisco Chronicle reports on the work of the American Medical Student Association to monitor the interaction of pharmaceutical companies and medical school faculty in an effort to preserve unbiased care.

Clinics in Minnesota try new ways to treat depression

Maura Lerner of the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports on Minnesota's efforts to tackle depression with a new program.

Fat cells: What they are and what they do

Regina Nuzzo, in the Los Angeles Times, delves into the mechanisms of fat cells in the human body. She writes about cells called adipocytes: where they live, what they do and the course of their lives.

C-sections can impact insurance costs

Denise Grady of The New York Times writes about the difficulties some women have in obtaining affordable individual insurance after having Caesarean sections.

Hospitals addressing night shift's higher risks

The Wall Street Journal's Laura Landro reports on "nocturnists" – doctors who are hired to work at night when patients tend to "suffer higher rates of death, complications and medical errors when they are treated during thinly staffed off hours."

U.S. detainees subjected to substandard care

"Careless Detention: Medical Care in Immigrant Prisons" by Washington Post reporters Dana Priest and Amy Goldstein reveals that "The most vulnerable detainees, the physically sick and the mentally ill, are sometimes denied the proper treatment to which they are entitled by law and regulation. They are locked in a world of slow care, poor care and no care, with panic and coverups among employees watching it happen."

Study: Articles often leave out important information

A study about how journalists cover medicine by Gary Schwitzer, an associate professor at the University of Minnesota School of Journalism and Mass Communication and publisher of HealthNewsReview.org, has been published in the journal PLoS Medicine. "How Do U.S. Journalists Cover Treatments, Tests, Products and Procedures? An Evaluation of 500 Stories" summarizes the first two years' experience of HealthNewsReview.org, a site that reviews and evaluates articles about health and medicine.

Series seeks solutions to childhood obesity epidemic

An extensive five-day Washington Post series looks at the epidemic of childhood obesity with a focus on solutions. Stories look at the relationship between where kids live and their weight-loss success, physical education in schools, healthy school lunches and parent-packed unhealthy lunches, and much more.

Steroids the 'prescription of choice' at two Ariz. clinics

In a four-month investigation, Josh Bernstein of KNXV-Phoenix found that anabolic steroids were being prescribed at Revolution Medical Centers when Bernstein, the undercover "patient," told doctors that he was healthy and wanted to increase strength and get bigger. After the investigation aired, the state medical board launched its own investigation.

Hospitals use patient data in fundraising efforts

Elizabeth Fernandez of the San Francisco Chronicle reports that hospitals "widely use patient information, without patients' explicit permission, to raise funds." Federal law allows patient "demographic information," including name, address and dates of medical care, to be used for fundraising purposes without specific patient consent.

Low reimbursement hampers reconstructive breast surgery

Data provides snapshot of drug company payments to doctors

Jeremy Olson and Paul Tosto of the St. Paul Pioneer Press report on a lawsuit brought after a patient in a trial of psychiatric drugs committed suicide. The suit alleged that "doctors were under pressure to recruit patients such as Markingson to maximize payments from AstraZeneca and gain prestige by participating in the drug company's national study."

Early Alzheimer's changes couple's life

Sarah Varney of KQED public radio in San Francisco profiles a couple in which the husband has early onset Alzheimer's and discusses how it first manifested itself and the changes it has made in the couple's relationship.

Waiting for a transplant: The lives of six people on the waiting list

In a special report, Monifa J. Thomas and Kara Spak of the Chicago Sun-Times write about the lives of six of the 4,700 people in Illinois waiting for a life-saving organ donation.

PTSD lingers in Vietnam veteran

Alysa Landry of the Farmington (N.M.) Daily Times describes the life, and near suicide, of a man who has been struggling since the Vietnam War but wasn't diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder until five years ago.

Health IT reforms move slowly in Calif. prisons

Kim S. Nash of CIO writes about the antiquated state of California's prison health care system and process of reform after a district judge pronounced the system unconstitutional. The most pressing improvements need to be made in information technology: "For years, several prisons lacked working phones for the medical staff. Others relied on antique Brother typewriters to fill in forms and leaky, lightless trailers in which to store them. Prison employees soaked printer ribbons in ink by hand because the dot-matrix printers were so old that manufacturers no longer made replacement parts."

Critic questions TV health reporting practice

Eric Deggans, television and media critic for the St. Petersburg Times, writes about television health reports that are presented as being reported and produced locally when they are actually footage from news service.

Uninsured congressman, an M.D., supports affordable health care for all

Ivan Oransky of Scientific American writes about U.S. Rep. Steve Kagen (D-Wis.) who was elected last year and declined congressional health care coverage. Kagen, an allergist, says he does not have any health insurance.

Financial ties to pharma found in NPR show

An article in Slate by Shannon Brownlee and Jeanne Lenzer discusses the importance of full disclosure in health journalism. They look particularly at an episode of the award-winning radio series "The Infinite Mind" called "Prozac Nation: Revisited."

NYC ambulance crew would prep bodies for organ donation

Robert Davis of USA Today writes about a New York City plan that will allow a special ambulance crew to preserve and prep bodies for potential organ donation before getting consent from families.

Iowa hospital must disclose payroll information, judge says

Clark Kauffman of the Des Moines Register writes that a local hospital's desire to keep payroll records disclosed was denied by a district judge. The hospital sued a local resident and the Register after they requested payroll information last year. Since the decision, the Register has filed another request for payroll information for the past two years.

Suicide deaths from San Diego bridge higher than most

A two-part series by Randy Dotinga that appeared on voiceofsandiego.org explores the high number of suicide deaths from the San Diego-Coronado Bay Bridge. After asking the San Diego harbor police for records, Dotinga found that 236 people have died in fatal jumps and falls since the bridge opened in 1969.

Mental health an issue after tornado destruction

Bryan Thompson of Kansas Public Radio looks at the mental health impact of the almost total destruction caused by a tornado that tore through the small town of Greensburg one year ago. Health professionals in surrounding areas have found that residents of the town are more psychologically impacted by the loss of neighbors and a social support system, something very important in small town life, than they are by the loss of their homes and other physical belongings.

High pitch counts contribute to young players' injuries

The Seattle Times' Tom Wyrwich writes about a former high school baseball player who sued the school district for allowing him to throw 140 pitches in one game. The intensity of the game, along with a number of similar games preceding it, caused a shoulder injury that keeps him from ever playing again. The player lost the lawsuit, but he continues to fight for regulations on pitching in high school baseball.

Slow medicine leaves treatment decisions to elderly patients

Jane Gross of The New York Times reports from Hanover, N.H., about a retirement community affiliated with Dartmouth Medical School that has become a laboratory for the slow medicine movement. Slow medicine encourages physicians to put on the brakes when considering care that may have high risks and limited rewards for the elderly, and it educates patients and families how to push back against emergency room trips and hospitalizations designed for those with treatable illnesses, not the inevitable erosion of advanced age.

Fort Worth hospital district exposed: Money, insured patients top priority

Fort Worth Star-Telegram reporters Darren Barbee, Yamil Berard and Anthony Spangler spent four months examining the JPS Health Network through public records and data, including financial and tax documents, reports to state and federal agencies, and correspondence. The examination found that the Hospital District has squandered opportunities to improve care and compassion as it has chased insured patients pursued by every other Tarrant hospital.

Patients overdose in Army hospitals

NPR reporter Joseph Shapiro produces two stories that tell about a recent rash of prescription drug overdoses leading to death in army hospitals, and how the hospitals are changing their policies to prevent them.

Mutant form of diarrhea-causing bacteria leads to death

JoNel Aleccia writes on MSNBC.com about the bacterial infection Clostridium difficile which, historically benign and easily treated, was usually found in older patients in hospitals and nursing homes. However, a mutated form of this infection, referred to as C. diff., produces roughly 20 times the toxins responsible for illnesses ranging from simple diarrhea to blood poisoning - and death.

Dangerous levels of lead found in dental work

Reports from WBNS-Columbus, Ohio and WJLA-Washington, D.C. show that high levels of lead contamination can be found in the porcelain part of dental crowns and bridges imported from China. An investigation by WJLA's I-Team found levels as high as 490 parts per million in imported crowns. The level that a congressional committee wants to set for toys is 90 parts per million.

Problems at Merck plant cited by FDA inspectors

Karl Stark of the Philadelphia Inquirer writes about problems found in a Merck & Co. Inc. vaccine plant after the Food and Drug Administration completed a 30-day inspection. Unwanted "fibers" on the stoppers of vaccine vials and instances of contaminated children's vaccines are among the 49 cited areas of concern.

Researchers test gene therapy on the blind, results show improvement

A story by Philadelphia Inquirer staff writer Tom Avril describes the recently published results of gene therapy for a rare retinal mutation that causes blindness. Testing shows that the eyesight of all three patients has improved in the months following the procedure. The Inquirer followed the trial over eight months under the agreement that it would not print an account until the research was published in an academic journal.

ERs struggle without specialists

Mary Engel of the Los Angeles Times writes that the city's emergency rooms are having a hard time finding specialists willing to come in on call to treat patients. A 2006 survey by the American College of Emergency Physicians found that 73 percent of emergency departments in the United States had inadequate on-call coverage by specialist physicians.

Families, experts question falling autopsy rates

Two articles explore what falling autopsy rates mean for the future of medicine and how doctors are in some cases misinterpreting causes of death without them.

Using DNA, families fight to keep prevent cancer

Oregonian reporter Julie Sullivan writes about the Northwest researcher who found the breast cancer gene in 1990 and tells the story of four sisters who had hysterectomies after discovering they had all inherited the gene.

Iowa regulators struggle with hospitals to change laws

Clark Kauffman of the Des Moines Register writes about the difficulty state regulators have in changing Iowa laws and regulations governing hospitals. The reason, they say, is the "unprecedented say" that hospital officials have over the matter – the Hospital Licensing Board and the Iowa Hospital Association are made up entirely of current and former hospital administrators.

NIH reports must be made public after one year

On a segment of Science Friday, host Ira Flatow talks with former NIH director Harold Varmus, a leading proponent of open access to research. The interview was conducted after the announcement that reports of research funded by the National Institutes of Health must be made freely available after a maximum of one year.

Insurers' payments to lobbyists on the rise

Trudy Lieberman writes about money paid to lobbyists by health insurers in the Columbia Journalism Review, citing an article in Health Plan Week that took an in-depth look at spending patterns.

Ariz. homeopathic board lets doctors with revoked licenses practice

John Dickerson of the Phoenix New Times investigates the Arizona Homeopathic Board of Medical Examiners. The board has secured licenses to practice homeopathy for doctors whose conventional licenses had been revoked, allowing them to practice homeopathy in Arizona.

Health reporters take stand against hospital confidentiality agreements

Concerned by incidents in which hospitals have attempted to restrict newsgathering, the Association of Health Care Journalists strongly urges reporters to resist signing confidentiality agreements with hospitals.

Sick around the world

Frontline and Washington Post foreign correspondent T.R. Reid teamed up to find out how five other capitalist democracies – the United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, Taiwan and Switzerland – deliver health care, and what the United States m