Insights

You learn a lot when you spend months reporting on a given issue or community, as our fellows can attest. Whether you’re embarking on a big new story or seeking to go deeper on a given issue, it pays to learn from those who’ve already put in the shoe leather and crunched the data. In these essays and columns, our community of journalists steps back from the notebooks and tape to reflect on key lessons, highlight urgent themes, and offer sage advice on the essential health stories of the day. 

Doctors Behaving Badly: Gynecologist has "excellent" adventure with pharma ghostwriter

By William Heisel

<p><em><strong>&nbsp;</strong></em><strong></strong></p><p><strong> <p>In a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/05/health/research/05ghost.html?pagewant… piece</a> in the <em>New York Times</em>, Natasha Singer detailed how <a href="http://www.nlm.nih.gov/locallegends/Biographies/Bachmann_Gloria.html">Dr. Gloria Bachmann</a> leapt at the chance to sign her name to an article she had not written.</p>

Health Effects of Climate Change

By Stephan Faris

<p><!-- --></p> <p>When it comes to climate change, the most important impacts of the emissions from our cars, power plants and factories are likely to be broad and indirect. Global warming needs to be examined not just from the perspective of medicine, but from public health.</p>

Exorcise the ghosts that have been haunting research journals

By William Heisel

<p><i>The New York Times</i> and the medical journal <a href="http://www.plosmedicine.org/home.action"><i>PloS Medicine</i></a> won an incredible victory for patients and for health writers last week. They persuaded a judge in a lawsuit against drug makers to release 1,500 previously sealed documents that tell the story of how drug companies like Wyeth have been acting as ghost writers in medical journals. </p>

Q&A with Dr. John Dombrowski, Part 2: Anesthetizing Michael Jackson "indefensible"

By William Heisel

<p>This is the second part of my <a href="/blogs/qa-dr-john-dombrowski-michael-jacksons-bungled-pain-management-may-have-killed-him">conversation</a> with <a href="http://www.dcpaindoc.com/html/physician_profile.html">Dr. John Dombrowski</a>, a Washington D.C. anesthesiologist and pain management specialist who sits on the American Society of Anesthesiology's <a href="http://www.asahq.org/aboutAsa/asaCommitteeListing.htm#admin">administra… affairs</a> committee.</p>

SPJ Northern California taking nominees in annual journalism competition

By Angilee Shah

<p>The doors are open at the Society of Professional Journalists, Northern California, 2009 Excellence in Journalism Competition.</p><p>From chapter president Ricardo Sandoval:</p><blockquote><p>"These awards honor the journalists whose work best reflects the SPJ ideals of initiative, integrity, talent and compassion.</p><p>In addition to our regular categories, we are adding three new ones this year to reflect the ongoing evolution of the delivery of news and comment.</p>

Doctors Behaving Badly: Dr. Peter Breen

By William Heisel

<p>Anesthesiologists everywhere <a href="/blogs/qa-dr-john-dombrowski-michael-jacksons-bungled-pain-management-may-have-killed-him">cringed</a> when they heard the news that Michael Jackson was found dead with a bag of <a href="/blogs/see-michael-jackson-doctor%E2%80%99s-alleged-slipup-look-label">propofol</a> nearby.</p> <p>The drug is too strong to be used as a sleep aid and deceptively simple to administer. Anesthesia drugs like propofol require constant monitoring, and Jackson, apparently, was<br /> left unattended after receiving the drug.</p>

Covering Alternative Medicine

By Barbara Feder Ostrov

<p>A "show-me-the-evidence" health journalist offers tips on covering alternative medicine without dismissing all of it out of hand.</p>

Fellowship projects pick up SPJ awards, nods from the Emmys

By Angilee Shah

<p>Former California Endowment Health Journalism Fellows are picking up awards and nods all over the western United States this year. Here are some highlights from the award-winning reporting produced as fellowship projects:</p>

Public Citizen data on hospital laggards deserves second look

By William Heisel

<p>Pia Christensen of the Association of Health Care Journalists responded to an <a href="http://bit.ly/VQ4KV">earlier blog post</a> that I had essentially ignored some good reporting on the <a href="http://www.tradewatch.org/publications/release.cfm?ID=7659&amp;secID=11… Citizen report</a> about how hospitals are failing in a very big way to report bad doctors to the National Practitioner Data Bank. She cited three stories, saying: </p>