Insights

Miranda Dyer started life as an athlete, so it didn’t make sense when a flight of stairs left her winded. Basic tasks made her feel exhausted. This would last for weeks and then go away. She tried to just not think about it, but it seemed to be getting worse over time.

Earlier this year, I shut down at the Association of Health Care Journalists conference in Denver. What makes me crumble like this? I don’t know, but I have a hunch: I’m pretty sure I have a social phobia.

While Latino children may have reached majority status in California, they still face greater challenges in accessing care and healthy environments than their white peers. A new report finds especially large health disparities among kids from Spanish-speaking households.

In recent years, there's been growing concern that a lack of doctors will keep newly insured patients from accessing care. Now, a new tool can predict the supply of physicians and help journalists ask and answer new questions from the data. Fresh story ideas abound.

To keep up with the latest discussions on topics relevant to health journalists, follow Career GPS posts and job listings via RSS. To submit a job listing, send me an email at alromano@usc.edu.

The allegations of dental negligence against Dr. Robert Tupac described a host of problems — painful eight-hour dental surgery performed without anesthesia, crumbling dental work, drooling and bone loss. But with patients not eager to talk to a reporter, court records proved key to the story.

To better appreciate some of the legal problems with the way California's medical board oversees the disclosure of doctors’ disciplinary records online, consider the legal case of the late Orange County skin care pioneer James E. Fulton.

The premiere showing of "The Syndrome," a documentary that asks the hard questions about shaken baby syndrome theory, brought together a group of people in desperate need of community.

The Medical Board of California has successfully won legislation that will remove a 10-year time limit on the online disclosure of doctors' discipline records. But the board better have its legal team ready, because doctors won't hesitate to challenge the rules in court.