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

Fraud Fishing, Part 1: Why that corner health clinic might be flush with ill-gotten gains

<p>In Santa Ana, Calif., I used to live near a health clinic that ostensibly catered to Spanish-speaking mothers, a noble calling in big city with a large, underserved immigrant population.</p> <p>Years before, in reporting a story, I had found that the obstetrician who ran the clinic had among the highest delivery rates in the county. "According to a database of county birth certificate information, he was delivering, on average, more than three babies a day, every day of the year.</p>

Doctors Behaving Badly: Indiana drug mill kept patients happy and hooked

<p>Wikipedia has no entry for the term “<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Special%3ASearch&amp;redirs=0… mill</a>.”</p> <p>Antidote offers the following: <em>A physician’s office where people suffering from injuries or chronic diseases are given high doses of addictive drugs to keep them returning for more and where people already addicted to painkillers can obtain drugs with no questions asked. </em></p> <p>Exhibit A is the Bloomington, Indiana office of Dr. Larry Dean Ratts.</p>

Q&A with Jeanne Bouillon Part 2: Removing the veil from medical malpractice histories

<p>Jeanne Bouillon nearly bled to death after a gynecological procedure went awry. When she found out that the doctor who had performed the procedure had been sued several times to the tune of more than $700,000, she started fighting in Illinois and in Washington D.C. for better disclosure laws that would allow patients to see a physician’s malpractice and disciplinary history. One piece of legislation she fought for, the <a href="http://www.tubal.org/SJBreportMarch02hearing.htm">Patient Right-to-Know Act</a>, eventually made its way into law in 2005.</p>

Doctors Behaving Badly: Chicago doc accused in baby’s death gets by with a little help from the Klan

<p>Medical malpractice cases can dredge up some frightening examples of human behavior.</p> <p>Few examples could be uglier than the Ku Klux Klan.</p> <p>Dr. Joseph Dickstein, a family doctor in Chicago, had three patients complain that they suffered complications following surgical procedures he performed. The allegations were serious enough that Dickstein lost his hospital privileges.</p> <p>Perhaps he was feeling desperate then when he was sued by Karla Morgan.</p>

Q&A with Mary Flowers, Part 1: Bringing medical mistakes out of the shadows

<p>Even before <a href="../../../../../../../../blogs/chicago%E2%80%99s-buried-bodies-part-3-doctor-discipline-ball-bounces-legislative-court">the Supreme Court of Illinois</a> pulled the rug out from under a patient safety law that allowed consumers to review malpractice histories for doctors, state <a href="http://housedem.state.il.us/members/flowersm/index.htm">Rep. Mary Flowers</a> was looking for a way to repair the damage.

Doctors Behaving Badly: Indiana doc plays the victim when finally caught overdosing patients

<p>Dr. Phillip D. Foley of Middletown, Ind., might have a second career as an inspector for the <a href="http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=SPEECHES&… Safety &amp; Health Administration</a>.</p> <p>This incredible human being was able to write an average of <a href="http://heraldbulletin.com/breakingnews/x546199543/Doctor-linked-to-over… prescription per minute</a> without hurting his wrist.</p>

Chicago's Buried Bodies, Part 3: The doctor discipline ball bounces to the legislative court

<p>As a health writer for a newspaper, I used to tease reporters who would say, “I have calls in” when they were asked about something happening on their beat.</p> <p>“You have calls in? Why are you waiting for someone to call you back? Call their boss and their boss’s boss until you get your questions answered.”</p> <p>Yet in <a href="http://bit.ly/cn1S3v">Monday’s post</a> about the Illinois Division of Professional Regulation, I basically told readers, “I have calls in.”</p> <p>And my editor called me on it.</p>

Doctors Behaving Beautifully: Institute for Healthcare Improvement works to build better doctors

<p>Everybody has worked with a jerk. Someone who steals credit for your work. Someone who berates their employees behind closed doors but turns on the smiles for the executives. Someone who is loathe to admit a mistake.</p> <p>When that jerk is a physician, the consequences are steeper than bruised egos or misbegotten bonus pay. Patients can end up with the wrong medication. Surgery can be performed on the wrong organ. Someone who had an excellent chance at surviving a disease can be dead in seconds.</p>