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Paul Sisson
Health Care Reporter
I cover health care-related topics for U-T San Diego.
Articles
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Here we check in with prominent health journalists and experts to see what sites, newsletters and social media feeds they turn to first every morning. This week, we caught up with Paul Sisson, health care reporter for The San Diego Union-Tribune. Here are his top morning reads.
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![[Photo: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images]](/sites/default/files/styles/teaser_list_thumbnail/public/title_images/GettyImages-71205638.jpg?itok=Ow2j-EEa)
Are California hospitals doing a better job of preventing serious mistakes in the wake of a state program that issues high-profile penalties for such errors? One reporter finds reasons for doubt in the data.
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In 2012, a surgical team mistakenly removed Paul Kibbett’s healthy left kidney rather than the cancerous tumor on the right side. Since then, the hospital has worked to build a culture where reporting mistakes is celebrated.
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This report was produced as a project for the 2015 California Data Fellowship, a program of the Center for Health Journalism at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.
Other stories in the series include:
Sharpening the focus on medical errors
Do penalties reduce medical errors?
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In California, fines up to $125,000 per preventable mistake have not made a significant dent in the number of medical errors. Despite recent gains, the number is still higher than when the state’s program began nine years ago.
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Starting in 2007, California’s hospital administrative penalties program was designed to bring greater accountability to hospitals that commit “never events” and put patients in immediate jeopardy. So, what does the data tell us about how well it's working?