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>The recent guilty plea of a broker of illegal human organs sheds new light on international organ trafficking — and on the gray market trade in body parts that's still happening right here in the United States.</p>
<p>Freelance health journalist and former insurance industry insider Lisa Zamosky talks about how she juggles multiple assignments and bosses.</p>
<p>Few health writers in the country understand the whys and hows of health insurance as well as Lisa Zamosky, a former industry insider. In our Q&A, she talks about juggling several freelance gigs and her transition from insurance to journalism.</p>
<p>Andy Rooney died of "serious complications" following minor surgery. But what does that really mean? Journalists need to dig deeper.</p>
<p>On Veterans Day, think for a minute about three basic liberties we all should be allowed: freedom of speech, freedom from unreasonable search and seizure and freedom from malicious prosecution. Hospital whistleblower Charles Rehberg had those rights taken away.</p>
<p>When I asked some of my favorite writers about whether Burger King bears any blame for the national obesity epidemic, they sent me enough great ideas for dozens of blog posts. Here are their insights.</p>
<p>Victims of bad physician behavior everywhere are rubbing their eyes in disbelief today after Dr. Conrad Murray's conviction in the death of Michael Jackson. Here are five lessons from the case for regulatory agencies, prosecutors, patient advocates and journalists.</p>
<p>Can eating too many desserts cause diabetes? Yes. Is a Burger King advertising campaign to blame? That’s a tougher call, one that few reporters have tried to answer.</p>
<p>Recently, I asked readers to show me a case where a state attorney general had been sued five times by a public hospital to block access to records sought by journalists. I didn’t know the half of it.</p>
<p>More advice from Net Impact on the "mind mob" and creating your own job during a time of great change in journalism, media, nonprofits and health care.</p>