- http://www.everydayhealth.com/kids-health/0604/death-by-strep-one-familys-tragic-loss.aspx
- http://www.everydayhealth.com/kids-health/0719/rory-stauntons-death-by-strep-prompts-new-hospital-protocol.aspx
List date(s) this work was published or aired.
4-Jun-12
Provide a brief synopsis of the story or stories, including any significant findings.
Everydayhealth.com Senior Editor Allison Takeda’s article “Death by Strep: One Family’s Tragic Loss” (June 4, 2012) shared the story of Rory Staunton, a 12-year-old boy from Queens, N.Y., who suffered a scraped elbow while playing basketball at school last March. The next day, Rory complained of pain in his leg and stomach ache. His parents brought their son to his doctor where Rory was tested for strep throat. The results came back negative. The pediatrician, suspecting a stomach bug, recommended the Stauntons take Rory to the emergency room where he could receive fluids to staunch his vomiting. Two physicians at New York University Medical Center examined Rory and determined he had a stomach bug. They wrote a prescription for a stomach medication and sent the boy home. Four days after falling ill, Rory Staunton died from an invasive bacterial strep infection. Everydayhealth.com was the first national outlet to share Rory Staunton’s story. Takeda’s article was followed by coverage in The New York Times, USA Today, the Daily Mail, MSNBC, the Huffington Post, among other publications. The article brought nationwide attention to invasive strep infections, which affect between 10,000 to 12,000 Americans a year, according to the CDC. Four months after Rory’s death, NYU Langone Medical Center, the hospital where the boy was treated and discharged, announced plans to implement corrective actions” and design “additional care processes to address the delivery of care” to emergency department patients as direct result of their review of the events that led to the preventable tragedy. Everydayhealth.com’s article and subsequent national coverage led to a symposium on detecting and treating sepsis at the New York Academy of Medicine last October. And New York health officials are planning to make New York the first state to require that hospitals aggressively look for sepsis in patients. Everydayhealth.com is proud to submit “Death by Strep: One Family’s Tragic Loss” for consideration in the Consumer/Feature category for its role in transforming how patients are treated at NYC Langone Medical Center and, potentially, at hospitals throughout the state of New York.”
Explain types of documents, data or Internet resources used. Were FOI or public records act requests required? How did this affect the work?
Takeda conducted her interview via phone and emial. No FOI or public records act requests were required.
Explain types of human sources used.
Takeda interviewed Ciaran Staunton, Rory’s father, Camille Sabella, a pediatric infectious disease specialist at the Cleveland Clinic, and Richard O’Malley, an infectious disease specialist at Children’s Hospital Boston.
Results:
As a result of Takeda’s article, NYU Langone Medical Center, the hospital where the boy was treated and discharged, instituted procedural changes to avoid another tragedy from happening.
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.
We published a follow-up article on July 19, 2012, that focused on NYC Langone Medical Center’s procedural changes.
Advice to other journalists planning a similar story or project.
Because much of Rory’s story hinged on what was — or wasn’t done — by his parents or medical professionals, it was crucial to make sure that we got our facts correct in terms of the chronology of events. It was important to ensure that all facts were properly attributed to their source.