Autism-Vaccine Research: "An Elaborate Fraud"

Here's what we're checking out today:

Autism: Unbelievable. Disgraced British doctor Andrew Wakefield didn't just get it wrong when he linked autism to the MMR vaccine, he actually faked his research data in an "elaborate fraud," according to a new British Medical Journal investigation. Reuters has the story (as do many other media outlets).

Drug Abuse: Chemist David Nichols writes movingly in Nature about how his research on psychedelic drugs has been hijacked by others, with fatal consequences.

Rationing: A patient denied a liver transplant because of Arizona state budget cuts has died, Stephanie Innes (one of our Fellows!) reports for the Arizona Daily Star.

Health Insurance: In California, Blue Shield has announced rate hikes of up to 59 percent for its individual policyholders, Duke Helfand reports for the Los Angeles Times. Will the company get away with it? Anthem didn't.

Telehealth: In the Columbia Journalism Review, veteran health IT journalist Neil Versel tells journalists what they're getting wrong in their coverage of telehealth. Also, check out Versel's great tips for covering electronic health records.