In November, the Wall Street Journal told the story of Linda Interlichia, Barb Leary and Brenda Leuzzi, three Rochester, N.Y., women who died of cancer after having hysterectomies. The portraits of these three women created a capstone piece for a year-long Journal investigation about a once common medical procedure–the use of a laparoscopic power morcellator, which is used in minimally invasive hysterectomies. Throughout the course of the year, the Journal revealed that doctors and companies evangelized for the device without fully considering the risks or informing patients; the government agency responsible for the safety of medical devices ignored its own internal concerns; and women went into surgery believing they had a simple, benign condition and emerged facing a battle for their lives. The Journal’s coverage unmistakably altered the course of medicine and saved the lives of an untold number of women. “My most fervent wish is to make sure this never happens to anyone else,” Ms. Interlichia told the Journal’s Jennifer Levitz weeks before she died.
