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>An aging doctor has been ordered to pay part of a $6.2 million judgment for negligence in performing two abortions. Why is he still practicing?</p>
<p>Why health journalists should dive deep into campaign finance data to scrutinize the health insurance-related votes of their legislators.</p>
<p>The long held belief that we should not be allowed to buy or sell pieces of our own bodies is changing. What does that mean for the future of organ donation?</p>
<p>Aging doctors may not know when they're too old to practice safely. In the name of patient safety, should we be monitoring doctors as they get older?</p>
<p>When is a doctor too old to practice safely? That depends, says Dr. William Norcross, who founded a national doctors' remedial education center and now advocates for regular testing of aging doctors for cognitive problems like dementia.</p>
<p>Consumers Union takes up my challenge to help put hospital-acquired infections on the map — literally. </p>
<p>A tribute to a deeply influential and inspiring journalism professor, now retiring from the University of Montana.</p>
<p>After four days of sharing, debating, and challenging my colleagues in health journalism, here are my five takeaways from last week's Association of Health Care Journalists conference.</p>
<p>When is a medical study on its own not worth a story? A recent study on music therapy for anxiety offers some clues.</p>
<p>Missed Coachella Live? Health journalists have their own version this week at the Association of Health Care Journalists Conference in Atlanta. Here's a preview.</p>