Insights

<p>The Medical Board of California told Orange County Register health reporter Courtney Perkes that it was rare for a doctor to be disciplined, allowed to return to practice and then disciplined again. She wanted to see if that was actually true, and so she asked the board for every record of a doctor who had petitioned for a license reinstatement.

<p>Last night, a group of San Francisco Bay Area health journalists got some intriguing health reform story ideas from one of California’s better-known health policy experts, <a href="http://www.chcf.org/about/staff/marian-mulkey">Marian Mulkey</a> of the <a href="http://www.chcf.org/">California HealthCare Foundation</a>. &nbsp;</p>

<p>Waitressing proved good training for my freelance journalism career. I had to keep track of a lot of tables. Each customer wanted something different. Some sent their meals back with a snarky comments. I would get great tips on day and stiffed the next. Either way, I never seemed to make enough.<br />

<p>Take away an artist’s paints. She may just use her fingers.</p> <p>Take away a chef’s knives. He may opt to smash, grate or whip the ingredients instead.</p> <p>But what if you are a doctor and the medical board takes away your ability to perform facelifts, liposuction, breast augmentation and tummy tucks?</p> <p>If you are <a href="https://isecure.bom.idaho.gov/BOMPublic/LicensePublicRecord.aspx?Board=…. Carl Freeman Wurster</a> in Boise, you beg.</p>

<p>We at the Diabetes Hands Foundation developed <a href="http://healthseekergame.org&quot; target="_blank" title="HealthSeeker, a healthy Facebook game">HealthSeeker</a>, a new healthy Facebook game (we think this is not an oxymoron!) in collaboration with Joslin Diabetes Center, with the goal of hel

<p><img src="/files/u47/West_Nile_Virus_3.jpg" alt="West Nile virus sign" width="240" height="182" style="float: left; margin-left: 15px; margin-right: 15px;" /></p><p>Ah, summertime. The sun is shining, the breeze is blowing and the mosquitoes are biting. Yep, it's time for the annual West Nile virus story! Here are some tips and resources for covering this important public health issue without sounding like a public service announcement.</p>

<p>A judge this week <a href="http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jun/14/local/la-me-conrad-murray-20100… an attempt</a> by the state of California to temporarily ban Dr. Conrad Murray, the doctor charged with involuntary manslaughter in the death of Michael Jackson.</p> <p>Now the ball is in the Medical Board of California’s court. The board rightly sought to use the criminal justice system first to stop Murray from practicing.</p><p>But few reporters picked up on the fact that the criminal system isn’t the only route.</p>

<p>For the June 2 edition of Vida en el Valle, I wrote a <a href="http://www.vidaenelvalle.com/2010/06/07/629569/all-in-the-family.html">… about the García family of Pixley</a>. (The story was produced with the support of <a href="http://www.reportingonhealth.org/fellowships">The California Endowment Health Journalism Fellowships</a>, a program of USC's Annenberg School for Communication &amp; Journalism.)</p>

<p>My friend <a href="http://www.ocregister.com/articles/farnsworth-248950-says-blood.html">C… Farnsworth</a> recently published a book called <a href="http://www.presidentsvampire.com/">Blood Oath</a>. It’s about a vampire who works for the president. After a reading he gave last week, I asked him, “Knowing that you are only one book into a three-book deal, why did you decide to put Frankenstein, werewolves, a vampire and zombies all in the first book?” He said, “It’s the Jack Kirby school of writing. If you have it, put it all in.”</p>

<p>From the annals of gross but important stories – now, with a summer news peg! – comes a new <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/ss5906a1.htm?s_cid=ss5906a1_e"… MMWR report</a> showing a striking 62 percent increase in the number of cryptosporidiosis cases from 2006 to 2008. Because <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/crypto/">cryptosporidiosis</a&gt; is a waterborne disease, this basically suggests that more kids are swimming in pools or playing in other water tainted with enough cryptosporidium protozoa (parasites) to make them sick.</p>