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

Q&A with Andrew Schneider Part 1: What to do when the big story finds you

<p>Andrew Schneider is one of the country's most accomplished investigative journalists. His work has won not just <a href="http://www.pulitzer.org/awards/1987">one</a&gt;, but <a href="http://www.pulitzer.org/awards/1986">two</a&gt; Pulitzer Prizes, and countless other awards. I had the privilege of meeting him when both of us were finalists for the <a href="http://www.hks.harvard.edu/presspol/news_events/archive/2001/goldsmith_… Prize</a> for Investigative Reporting at Harvard. My team lost. So did his.

Michael Jackson’s heart doctor isn’t the only one lacking papers

<p>If you, like me, were wondering how a guy like Dr. Conrad Murray, who had not bothered
keeping up with his studies enough to continue his certification as a cardiologist, could become the personal physician to the King of Pop, it's instructive to look at Dr. Jagat Narula.</p>

<p>Most of you won't know that name, but his career illuminates the gap between what the public expects when they see "Dr." in front of a person's name and what is often the reality.</p>

Doctors Behaving Badly: Dr. Gregory Burnham Camp

<p>Think about what it takes to obtain a medical license. Some states' licensing boards will rubber stamp a license from another state but others, like California's, require a lot of hoops.</p> <p>Then consider the case of Dr. Gregory Burnham Camp, who had licenses in California (No. 34329), Ohio (35-028433), North Carolina (36156) and Massachusetts. Why so many states?</p>

When going nuclear, don't misunderestimate misadministration

<p>Misadministration. When a physician has made a horrible mistake with wide-ranging ramifications, the terms "negligence," "malpractice" even "incompetence" might come to mind. Now this wonderful euphemism glides onto the scene, draping the wreckage in a filigree of blamelessness, warding off trial lawyers and investigative journalists. </p>

Q&A with New York Medicaid Inspector General Jim Sheehan: Watchdogging Nursing Homes

<p>New York state has an interesting job that is foreign to
most other states, the office of the <a href="http://www.omig.state.ny.us/data/">Medicaid Inspector General</a>. Lucky for health writers, the Inspector General there, <a href="http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?category=state&amp;story… G. Sheehan</a>, believes not only in rooting out people who are ripping off taxpayers, but in sharing his techniques and tactics with reporters. </p>

Salmonella At Yet Another Peanut Processor: FDA Warning Letters Tell the Story

<p>Just when you thought it was <a href="http://southwestfarmpress.com/peanuts/peanut-butter-sales-0624/">safe</…; to make that triple-decker peanut butter and banana sandwich, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has slapped another big peanut processor with a warning letter.</p><p>I wrote about the salmonella outbreak at a <a href="/blogs/making-peanuts-pay-rochester-reporter%E2%80%99s-work-shows-how-go-deep-and-go-local-national-food-safe">Peanut Corporation of America</a> plant in March and offered some advice on how to investigate our national food safety system. </p>

Contraindications: Dr. James Stirbl

<p>Robin Lowe went to the Sano Medical Clinic in Costa Mesa one June with what appeared to be an obvious and urgent problem. She had felt a lump in her left breast. </p><p>At 29, she was young to develop breast cancer. Making matters worse, she was pregnant.</p><p><a href="http://www2.dca.ca.gov/pls/wllpub/WLLQRYNA$LCEV2.QueryView?P_LICENSE_NU…. James Stirbl</a>, the doctor who ran the clinic, examined Lowe but did not recommend she undergo a mammogram or a biopsy, according to the Medical Board of California.</p>

The nuclear option: Bogdanich drops a bomb on VA hospital

<p>Walt Bogdanich, three-time <a href="http://www.pulitzer.org/faceted_search/results/bogdanich">Pulitzer</a>-… New York Times reporter, has written a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/21/health/21radiation.html">phenomenal story</a> about cancer care at the Veterans Affairs hospital in Philadelphia and tapped into a rich source of material for medical writers: the <a href="http://www.nrc.gov">Nuclear Regulatory Commission</a>.</p>

Q&A with Will Oremus: Why a high-flying doctor was worth pursuing

<p>My fellow contributing editor here at ReportingonHealth, Barbara Feder Ostrov, suggested I might be beating up unnecessarily on Stanford neurosurgeon <a href="/blogs/contraindications-dr-doyle-john-borchers">Dr. Doyle John Borchers III</a> in my post Wednesday.</p><p>After all, the poor guy did crash his plane and die. Why go over his alleged drug history? </p><p>Here's why. One of my main goals in this blog is to explore all the different places you can find information for health stories. </p>