Insights

<p>As a health writer for a newspaper, I used to tease reporters who would say, “I have calls in” when they were asked about something happening on their beat.</p> <p>“You have calls in? Why are you waiting for someone to call you back? Call their boss and their boss’s boss until you get your questions answered.”</p> <p>Yet in <a href="http://bit.ly/cn1S3v">Monday’s post</a> about the Illinois Division of Professional Regulation, I basically told readers, “I have calls in.”</p> <p>And my editor called me on it.</p>

<p><img src="/files/u47/West_Nile_Virus_-_Insect_Trap.jpg" alt="Insect Trap West Nile Virus" width="240" height="180" style="float: left; margin-left: 15px; margin-right: 15px;" />Well, that’s a relief. Last year’s West Nile virus season <a href="http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5925a1.htm?s_cid=mm5925a1_w"… out to be the mildest in eight years</a>, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, and this summer promises the same.</p>

<p>…or is it losing?</p><p>As I was reading through the journal articles documenting the results of a long-term comparison of low-fat vs. low-carb diets, the results at timepoints along the way reminded me of the play-by-play of a tightly contested horse race. So that's how I presented the story... with the help of an animated graphic. This sort of playful presentation of research results can't be used all the time, but it broke the tedium for me... and I hope for viewers... without sacrificing accuracy or context.</p>

<p>Everybody has worked with a jerk. Someone who steals credit for your work. Someone who berates their employees behind closed doors but turns on the smiles for the executives. Someone who is loathe to admit a mistake.</p> <p>When that jerk is a physician, the consequences are steeper than bruised egos or misbegotten bonus pay. Patients can end up with the wrong medication. Surgery can be performed on the wrong organ. Someone who had an excellent chance at surviving a disease can be dead in seconds.</p>

<p>The number of obese American children <a href="http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/pa/20100628_Study_finds_childhood_… be declining slightly</a>, but adults? Not so much. <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65S4PJ20100629?feedType=RSS&amp;f… new report</a> finds more grownups getting fatter in 28 states, a hefty number of them in the South.</p> <p>Here’s an excerpt from <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65S4PJ20100629?feedType=RSS&amp;f…’s Reuters’ story</a>:</p>

<p>When playing soccer - football to most of the world - it is good to possess the ball. But possession isn't enough. Even children scrimmaging in street games understand that all that really counts is scoring.</p>

<p>It’s a dismal day for diabetes drugs, with new research showing that <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/28/AR20100… raises the risks for heart disease and stroke</a> and <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100014240527487039641045753346501552142… side effects reported for taspoglutide</a>, an experimental diabetes drug from Roche that was expected to be a huge seller. &nbsp;</p>

<p>Surely if a doctor has gone to trial in a malpractice case and been ordered to pay millions by a judge or jury, this would catch the attention of the Illinois Division of Professional Regulation.</p> <p>This is what I was thinking when reading about some recent huge malpractice judgments against doctors in the Chicago area. I tried to see if any information about these payments showed up in the state’s professional <a href="https://www.idfpr.com/dpr/licenselookup/results.asp">license lookup</a> system.</p> <p>Every attempt ended in disappointment.</p>

<p>When I sent my last <a href="../../../../../../../../blogs/doctors-behaving-badly-illinois-obstetrician%E2%80%99s-malpractice-case-leaves-one-patient-victorious-">Doctors Behaving Badly</a> post to my editor, she responded with a bunch of great questions:</p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em>How is it possible to take down a major database that most states have?</em></p> <p style="padding-left: 30px;"><em>Does this mean no one can check their doctor online now?</em></p>