William Heisel
Contributing Editor
Contributing Editor
I have reported on health for most of my career. My work as an investigative reporter at the Los Angeles Times and the Orange County Register exposed problems with the fertility industry, the trade in human body parts and the use of illegal drugs in sports. I helped create a first-of-its-kind report card judging hospitals on a wide array of measures for a story that was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. I was one of the lead reporters on a series of stories about lead in candy, a series that also was a finalist for the Pulitzer.For the Center for Health Journalism (previously known as Reporting on Health), I have written about investigative health reporting and occasionally broke news on my column, Antidote. I also was the project editor on the Just One Breath collaborative reporting series. These days, for the University of Washington, I now work as the Executive Director for Insitutue for Health Metrics and Evaluation's Client Services, a social enterprise. You can follow me on Twitter @wheisel.
<p>Maia Szalavitz offers blunt advice for folks covering addiction and drug use: "Think critically. Don't be the readers' nanny. You aren't there to send 'the right message.'"</p>
<p>How many times do you see pain patients who aren’t addicted represented in stories about prescription painkillers? Maia Szalavitz weighs in.</p>
<p>Let's give credit to the folks who are trying to eliminate healthcare-associated infections in hospitals by putting them on the Herd Immunity map.</p>
<p>Three more questions you should pursue based on the debate over the SorryWorks! program, which protects doctors who apologize for medical errors that harm patients.</p>
<p>Should a doctor be able to say sorry to a patient who has been harmed and then avoid the repercussions of the error?</p>
<p>Efforts to change laws to encourage doctors to apologize for medical errors while avoiding lawsuits have sparked debate over whether patient safety will be compromised. Here's why.</p>
<p>A U.S. Senate panel is investigating the role of The Center for Practical Bioethics in Kansas City in the current painkiller abuse crisis.</p>
<p>Antidote has received some disturbing communications from a bioethics journal we reported on. Read on for the back story.</p>
<p>The American Pain Foundation – an industry-funded promoter of painkillers - closed its doors last week amid a federal inquiry. Here's how some top-notch journalists helped make it happen.</p>
<p>What's an 87-year-old doctor to do when he's banned from performing surgery but still allowed to practice medicine? Prescribe medical marijuana in a dubious clinic.</p>