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.

Articles

Complete Health Reporting: Always Ask About Costs

<p><em>Never write a story about a health-related treatment without talking about costs. </em>I wish health reporters would stitch that onto their pillows so they could see it every morning when they wake up.</p>

Lap-Band Maker Allergan Dumps Dubious Doctors From Its Website

<p>It would be interesting to see exactly what evidence finally tipped the scales at Allergan. Why did the Lap-Band maker finally stop selling its product to doctors participating in the aggressively marketed 800-GET-THIN weight loss surgery campaign?</p>

Slap: Patient Punished For Rate-Your-Doctor Posts

<p>Online review sites should not be a forum for falsehoods, but defamation suits against patients who post legitimate critiques of medical services are a threat to free speech and a threat to safe medicine. Here's a case in point.</p>