1. Provide the title of your story or series and the names of the journalists involved.
Marchione Medical Reporting Beat. Medical Writer Marilynn Marchione.
2. List date(s) this work was published or aired.
Feb. 16, 2010: Gene Testing
June 14, 2010: Overtreated-Radiation
Sept. 26, 2010: Costly Cancer Drugs
Dec. 12, 2010: Fake Doctor
3. Provide a brief synopsis of the story or stories, including any significant findings.
"Gene Testing": Some of mankind's most devastating inherited diseases are declining because more people are using genetic testing to decide whether to have children. The story was sparked by an opinion piece in a journal about one disease nearly disappearing and what that means to society.
"Overtreated-radiation": Some recent stories have described relatively rare mistakes that led to a small number of patients getting radiation overdoses. This story looked at a much more common and insidious problem: ordinary Americans getting too much radiation from too many medical tests.
"Costly Cancer Drugs": Many newer cancer treatments are in the six-figure range, and some prolong life by only a few months on average. A one-time, $93,000 prostate treatment shows the profound societal questions these newer treatments raise, such as how much a little extra time is worth and who should pay for it.
"Fake Doctor": This is an example of source work, research skills and storytelling. Marchione originally met this United Airlines pilot while writing about proficiency training at a cardiology conference. Months later, a tip came: He is not who he claims to be.
4. Explain types of documents, data or Internet resources used. Were FOI or public records act requests required? How did this affect the work?
The gene testing story was difficult because so few good records exist on these diseases; many states do not even record them on birth certificates. Marchione researched medical literature for case reports and trends in individual states with registries and tracking programs and even foreign countries. She interviewed testing companies about trends picked up through use of their products, and sought out experts at various federal agencies studying birth trends and specific diseases. She also worked through some support groups that track diseases, but sometimes found that their perspective and mission affected reporting of these numbers. The radiation story involved researching medical literature on radiation doses in common tests and the cancer risks they pose; poring through reports on worldwide radiation exposures for the United Nations, the International Atomic Energy Agency and other groups; and tracking down studies presented at various medical meetings. The cancer drug story required research into the price of various drugs, what studies had shown about the time they extended life, and on what basis they were approved. Marchione called major drug companies to get trends for financial assistance requests from patients, and searched the Internet to find a host of organizations and programs that can help patients' information included as a separate story and at the bottom of the main to ensure it was used online. The fake doctor story required extensive research into the man's background checks with three universities on degrees, licensing authorities and a host of medical groups that had used him. Marchione searched the Internet to find papers he had published and called some co-authors, and used LinkedIn to find private phone numbers and others who had worked with him.
5. Explain types of human sources used.
"Gene Testing" Marchione searched online and through support groups for rare diseases and referrals by medical geneticists to find couples using this technology to shape family planning decisions. A long effort to get the secretive Orthodox Jewish group Dor Yeshorim to discuss its testing program finally paid off, with the rabbi even discussing his own loss of four children, the motive that led him to start the service.
"Overtreated-radiation": What made this story work was the compelling examples of radiation overuse supplied by a radiologist at several community hospitals in New England, and included his own daughter having unnecessary tests after a car accident. Finding this doctor took a lot of time and persistence. Marchione began with a cardiologist who, during a medical meeting presentation, had shown a slide of a man with a hole burned into his back from too many heart scans. Trying to find that patient proved fruitless, but it led to a prominent Arizona radiation safety consultant. He referred her to a physicist at a major cancer center in Texas, who persuaded his acquaintance, the New England radiologist, to come forward with problems he had documented as well as the denial by fellow radiologists of the magnitude of the problem.
"Cancer drugs": Marchione followed a number of paths to find patients, including contacting a doctor who had written a letter to the editor in a journal, bemoaning the price of drugs and its impact on his patients. Fake doctor: As mentioned above, Marchione used the Internet to find co-workers, co-authors, fellow speakers at conferences and academic sources who had worked with this man and interviewed them about his fraud. She also tracked down a small-town Florida doctor who had taken this phony doctor's training course at a cardiology conference to see if he had found it to be of value. And she sought out legendary cardiologists to talk about how this man could have faked out so many experts for so long.
6. Results (if any).
Just one week after Overtreated-radiation ran, experts wrote in the New England Journal of Medicine that CT scans pose a growing risk and more regulation of them is needed. In December, officials announced at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America that 700 health care providers had signed onto a campaign urging the lowest amount of radiation be used. The AP series wasn't cited, but we believe the wide play of our radiation story could have played a role in raising the profile of this issue. And newspapers such as the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel editorialized the issue of over-radiation. The "Fake Doctor" story led to new tips from new sources that we are continuing to check out. It is possible this man committed crimes with his lies of a medical degree so we expect at least another story on new developments. ABC's Good Morning America interviewed Marchione about the story, which won terrific online play and generated 1,200 comments on Yahoo alone where it was among the most emailed stories.
7. Follow-up (if any). Have you run a correction or clarification on the report or has anyone come forward to challenge its accuracy? If so, please explain.
No.
8. Advice to other journalists planning a similar story or project.
n/a.