Insights

<p>The new <a href="http://www.healthycity.org/">Healthy City Web site</a>, launched this week, is designed for community activists, but it’s an intriguing data source for California reporters nonetheless, particularly if you’re interested in covering the connections between your health and where you live. Social services beat reporters (are there any of those left?) will find it useful, too.</p>

<p><!--StartFragment--></p><p class="MsoNormal">A conference on health disparities for an audience of journalists is bound to produce lots of story ideas, and the one under way in Washington, organized by the National Association of Black Journalists, is no exception.</p> <p class="MsoNormal">Here are some ideas for stories that have emerged from two days (so far) of discussions:</p>

<p>If you watch cable, it may have been hard to miss that this week was <a href="http://health.discovery.com/tv/baby-week/baby-week.html">Discovery Health channel's "Baby Week".</a>&nbsp; Like "Shark Week" on Discovery proper or "Croc Week" on Animal Planet, these programming spectacles are highly promoted and attract advertisers and eyeballs alike.&nbsp; As the writer of a blog on postpartum depression, my antennae went up when I heard one of the "Baby Week" specials would focus on postpartum depression.&nbsp; I knew a lot of moms would be watching, and wanted to make sure I&nbsp;tuned in to

<p>Scott Broussard is a battalion chief with the Costa Mesa Fire Department. He’s used to knocking down doors when there is an emergency and trying to stay steady in the midst of chaos. Kathy Broussard is a pediatric intensive care nurse who has seen children die and children saved from the brink of death. She is now focused on raising her two children.</p>

<p><!--StartFragment--></p><p>In the middle of the week that is likely to determine the outcome for President Obama’s health reform effort, <a href="http://hhs.gov/">HHS</a&gt; Secretary Kathleen Sebelius took time out from the fray on Thursday to talk to journalists about health disparities.</p>

<p>The doctor did it. In the bedroom. With an an anesthetic.</p> <p>The Los Angeles County Coroner spent 51 pages of minute calculations and detailed examinations to come to that simple conclusion on Aug. 24, 2009. Jackson had died from a lethal dose of propofol and other drugs and the <a href="http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009/08/michael-jackson-3.html">d… was a homicide</a>.</p> <p>This was perhaps the most surprising thing about the Michael Jackson case, because coroners are so reluctant to say a physician killed someone.</p>

<p>The readers of the <em>Lancaster (Penn.) New Era</em> had ample reason to be doubtful of the new doctor who had come to town being touted as “<a href="http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1P2-9165959.html">the infant whisperer</a>.”</p> <p>The New Era wrote a classic, glowing profile, quoting patients who said Dr. Saroj K. Parida, chief of neonatology at Lancaster Regional Medical Center, had saved their children’s lives. And perhaps he had.</p>

<p>Who knew that the <a href="http://www.dartmouthatlas.org/">Dartmouth Atlas</a> could arouse such passion? Many journalists have been trained to see the influential dataset as one of their most reliable sources for reporting on health care costs and regional differences in how health care is delivered in the United States.

<p>Far fewer people would know Dr. Conrad Murray’s name if Michael Jackson had died in a hospital.</p> <p>Not only would Murray have people with similar training around to corroborate his story, but he would have entered the secretive peer review system.</p> <p>Doctors have the power to conduct “peer reviews” at hospitals that could lead to a doctor losing his privileges to perform surgeries, see patients and otherwise practice medicine there. In the best case scenario, physicians police their own and take stern – albeit secretive – action.</p>

<p>I've been writing on my personal blog for a few years now. All with the intention of sharing my thoughts, experiences and because practice makes perfect. So I write, write and write some moe' Yet, it never fails to amaze me where my writing takes me. From joining the DREAM Act movement to reporting and blogging on other sites. I'm always in motion, always doing something you know. That's how I ended up sharing my story once again today. I was invited to present and participate in a brain storming session with the USC School of Journalism, focusing on health.</p>