William Heisel

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.

Articles

[Photo: John Moore/Getty Images]

Island of Doubt: When reporting on patient stories, trust, but verify

When you start combing through the medical records, it can get messy. You'll want to walk through the records with the patient or their family to resolve discrepancies and questions.

[Photo: Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images]

Island of Doubt: When it comes to medical mysteries, examine the charts

Here’s the first question you should ask when someone contacts you with a tip about something amiss with a patient’s care: “Can you get access to the medical records?”

The list of politicians who have been forced to correct false claims about their military record includes Sen. Richard Blumentha

A fabricated military history should raise all kinds of reporting red flags

I still can remember that defensive feeling that welled up in me when my editor doubted me. He wanted to know how I knew my subject's claim of having served in Vietnam was true.

[Photo by Joseph Novak via Flickr.]

Island of Doubt: Check those references to deflate a source’s puffed-up resume

People want to sound like the most interesting version of themselves. That's why reporters should be skeptical of a source's self-proclaimed job description.

Is a key aspect of your story based on just one source? Yikes!

Island of Doubt: Don’t let your great reporting be undermined by one source

Journalists have heard it a million times: use multiple sources. But as William Heisel explains, that means more than conducting a bunch of interviews and filling up notebooks.

[Photo by Matthew Wilkinson via Flickr.]

Island of Doubt: Why you should distrust — but not dismiss — your sources

Every reporter has been there: Something ends up in your notebook that just doesn’t feel right. So, how do you handle such situations?

Photo by Phalinn Ooi via Flickr

A Public Death: Bill Paxton’s death certificate points to surgery’s role in fatal stroke

The death certificate helps tells a fuller story of Bill Paxton’s final days. Reporters should make a habit of seeking them out, since they can be revealing repositories of information.

Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/Getty Images

Flying Blind: Why do we keep blaming the victims of medical errors?

The tendency to blame the patient in the wake of deaths or complications often serves to obscure mistakes made by health care providers.

Patient Safety and Ethics

Win McNamee/Getty Images

Flying Blind: Should we treat medical errors like plane crashes?

What would a more thorough effort to figure out what went wrong in health care-related deaths look like? Does medicine need the equivalent of aviation's black box?

Patient Safety and Ethics

[Photo by Gage Skidmore via Flickr.]

A Public Death: Bill Paxton’s surgery-related death should raise tough questions

Paxton’s death should prompt reporters to seek out expert opinions and remind readers of the very real risks that come with medical interventions.

Patient Safety and Ethics