Motor Crashes, Med Boards and Mishandled Justice: More Favorite Health Stories

After returning home, many veterans get into motor vehicle accidents, Investigative Team, Austin American-Statesman

Don’t let that boring headline turn you away. What makes this story standout from the rest of the powerful Uncounted Casualties series is the same thing that made this headline difficult to write. It’s not as easy to draw a clear line between a car crash and a wartime experience as it is between battlefield trauma and suicide or a drug overdose. Yet, the Austin American Statesman could not ignore the numbers. The investigative reporters wrote:

Next to illness and disease, motor vehicle accidents such as Sessions’ were the leading cause of death among the 266 Texas veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan whose histories were tracked by the American-Statesman. The motorcycle and car wrecks were responsible for 50 deaths, or 18.8 percent of the total — more than suicides or prescription drug overdoses.

It’s the breakdown of that number that’s striking. Nine were on foot when struck by cars — a percentage five times greater than auto-pedestrian deaths among the same age group statewide. Almost all the rest died in single-vehicle crashes, accounting for 13.2 percent of deaths in the Statesman’s analysis. That’s 10 times the statewide percentage of such vehicular fatalities. Official accident reports obtained by the Statesman were often inconclusive as to cause, but speed, alcohol or both were factors in two-thirds of them.

The reasons for these statistics are many. Veterans returning from the Vietnam and Gulf wars also had high rates of vehicular accidents; so does the civilian population that corresponds to the predominantly young, male veterans studied by the Statesman. And unique characteristics of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts — especially the constant threat of roadside bombs — appear to have contributed to reckless driving behavior at home.

Doctor discipline: State fails to offer full disclosure, Glenn Howatt and Richard Meryhew, Minneapolis Star Tribune

So many of the stories that Howatt and Meryhew wrote in February about physician discipline in Minnesota were terrific that I had trouble picking one to highlight. Longtime readers of my Doctors Behaving Badly series won’t be surprised by this choice. Howatt and Meryhew clearly document how Minnesota used to be a national leader in disclosing information about physicians, but now the state lags behind. They wrote:

Minnesotans can sometimes learn more about their doctor by visiting websites maintained by regulators in other states. Many physicians are licensed in multiple states because they work in more than one place.

For example, Minnesotans can go to the Florida website and see that the insurer for Dr. Mark H. Montgomery, a physician and surgeon who once practiced in Minnesota, paid more than $1 million in a malpractice case. A jury found Montgomery acted negligently during a tonsillectomy in a Minnesota hospital that resulted in the death of a 3-year-old boy. Minnesota's website makes no reference to the malpractice case or jury award.

Police ignored, mishandled sex assaults reported by disabled, Ryan Gabrielson, California Watch

There are many things to love about the way California Watch approaches an investigation. One of the best things, though, is the way they tend to start their stories. If they can give it to you straight, without a long anecdote or scene setter, they will. For the final part of his amazing Broken Shield series, Gabrielson wrote:

Patients at California’s board-and-care centers for the developmentally disabled have accused caretakers of molestation and rape 36 times during the past four years, but police assigned to protect them did not complete even the simplest tasks associated with investigating the alleged crimes, records and interviews show.

The Office of Protective Services, the police force at California’s five developmental centers, failed to order a single hospital-supervised rape examination for any of these alleged victims between 2009 and 2012. At most police departments, using a “rape kit” to collect evidence would be considered routine.

Gabrielson’s reporting has had a huge impact this year. His stories started in February and prompted, among other things, state legislation requiring California developmental centers to report allegations of abuse to law enforcement agencies.

Here is the first batch of my favorite stories from this year.

If you have stories you loved this year, drop a note below, send me a message at askantidote@gmail.com or ping me on Twitter @wheisel.