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

Making Hepatitis History Part 3: Bankruptcy court holds dirty secrets little and large

<p>You might be alarmed at what you find in the bankruptcy records for a medical company or a physician. Here are a few things that have alarmed me.</p> <ul><li>Patient records, with birth dates and social security numbers.</li></ul><ul><li>Charts showing detailed histories of visits, procedures and lab workups over decades.</li></ul><ul><li>Pathology lab reports.</li></ul> <p>Why would you find all these things mixed in with more mundane financial records showing the sums various people are owed?</p>

Making Hepatitis History Part 2: Sterilization logs can help uncover medical negligence

<p>One of my first investigative stories as a reporter started with a call from a doctor who was worried about the sterilization practices at his hospital.</p> <p>I started calling people at the hospital to try to answer some basic questions about what they were doing to make sure that surgical equipment was clean between procedures. “Why don’t I just come down and take a look at your process?” I suggested.</p> <p>And that’s how I saw the sterilization logs.</p>

Doctors Behaving Badly: Maryland doctor dispensed painkillers like candy

<p>When a patient has a pain problem, he can seek a doctor <a href="../../../../../../../../blogs/qa-dr-doris-cope-pain-doctors-need-better-tools-track-addicts">who has experience</a> in treating pain through a variety of measures that don’t rely solely on addictive prescription drugs.</p> <p>Or he can find a doctor who acts like a <a href="http://popwatch.ew.com/2010/01/05/best-pez-dispenser-you-ever-owned/">P… dispenser</a>.</p> <p>Dr. Daniel M. Howell was a Pez dispenser.</p>

Doctors Behaving Badly: Toys in the pediatrician’s basement didn’t make it less of a dungeon

<p>Dr. Earl Bradley had rooms in his pediatric practice decorated with Disney characters. Standard issue for the field.</p> <p>He also had a merry-go-round and a Ferris wheel, which might be pushing the boundaries of childlike enthusiasm.</p> <p>What made Bradley truly unusual, though, were the six handheld video cameras he kept. He used them, police say, to film himself molesting patients. They suspect he may have victimized more than 100 children, often bringing them into the basement of his office where he gave them toys to play with but also terrorized them.</p>

Making Hepatitis History Part 1: Propofol, Deadly Drug for Michael Jackson, Strikes Again

<p><a href="http://digestive.niddk.nih.gov/ddiseases/pubs/hepc_ez/">Hepatitis C</a> tore through Las Vegas in February 2008, prompting health officials to call for <a href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/02/28/health/main3886846.shtml">40,… people</a> to be tested for the disease. With estimates of more than 100 cases stemming from the outbreak and possibly thousands of infections that went unreported, it was later declared the largest Hepatitis C outbreak in US history, putting more people at risk than all previous outbreaks combined.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>

Doctors Behaving Badly: Doctor throws acid at his lover’s husband

<p>Dr. F.D. Toms, a New Jersey doctor, found himself in a bind.</p> <p>Rumors had been running around town that he had been sleeping with another man’s wife. The spurned husband, William Smith, showed up at the doctor’s office demanding to see him.</p> <p>Toms panicked. Seeing Smith charging at him, Toms grabbed a container of <a href="http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9C06E4DE1430E132A2575… acid</a> and threw it in Smith’s face. Toms said later that he thought he had grabbed a bottle of ammonia.</p>

Bad nurses, bad doctors and bad seeds, Part 2: Favorite health stories of 2009

<p>I started listing <a href="../../../../../../../../blogs/popsicles-popcorn-and-premarin-antidote%E2%80%99s-favorite-health-stories-2009">my favorite stories</a> of the past year, in no particular order, on Dec. 21. Here is the rest of the list.</p> <p><strong>“<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/21/health/21radiation.html">At VA Hospital, A Rogue Cancer Unit</a>,” Walt Bogdanich, <em>The New York Times</em></strong></p>

Q&A with Dr. Doris Cope, Part 2: Pain doctors need better tools to track addicts

<p>Last week, Antidote spoke with <a href="http://www.upmc.com/MEDIARELATIONS/EXPERTS/Pages/expertspage.aspx?exper…. Doris K. Cope</a>, a seasoned anesthesiologist and pain medicine specialist from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center who is one of the voices behind the new <a href="http://www.lifelinetomodernmedicine.com/ArticlePage.aspx?ID=b07e85fc-d6… Line to Modern Medicine</a> campaign from the American Society of Anesthesiologists.