The infamous “Dr. Death” case in Texas showed just how little oversight there often is of physicians. When confronted with a neurosurgeon who was maiming and killing patients, multiple hospitals looked the other way. Meanwhile, the state medical board dragged its feet in taking punitive action, and Texas malpractice law discouraged private lawsuits.
Now, ProPublica reporter Dave McSwane has investigated yet another shocking case of prolonged physician misconduct — this time in a very different setting. Montana oncologist Thomas Weiner, who was beloved by his patients and their families as well as his staff, now stands accused of numerous legal and ethical breaches that harmed and killed patients.
Among the infractions: treating patients for cancers they didn’t actually have, changing end-of-life care directives without patient consent, and improperly prescribing narcotics. In this webinar, McSwane talks about what he’s learned about why, in this case, hospital officials and fellow physicians remained silent about their suspicions that Weiner was harming patients, and why federal regulators and health plans failed to step in to stop the abuses.
Mary Chris Jaklevic
AHCJ Health Beat Leader for Patient Safety
Mary Chris Jaklevic is AHCJ’s health beat leader for patient safety based in Chicago. She’s an independent journalist who has covered health care finance, clinical care and medical research for a variety of professional and consumer publications. Her interest in patient safety issues and the potential harms of medical interventions was honed by her experience as a contributor to HealthNewsReview.org, a project that aimed to improve health care journalism by critiquing the accuracy and balance of media messages about medical treatments and tests. She’s a longtime AHCJ member and served on the board for two terms.
J. David McSwane
Reporter, ProPublica
J. David McSwane is a reporter in ProPublica’s Washington, D.C., office. Previously, he was an investigative reporter for the Dallas Morning News, where his reporting on the state’s outsourced Medicaid system, which benefited companies that systematically deny care to sick children and disabled adults, spurred multiple legislative reforms. Before that he wrote for the Austin American-Statesman and a small Florida newspaper. McSwane’s reporting has spurred new laws and state and federal criminal investigations, forced belt-tightening lawmakers to invest in social programs and won some trinkets along the way, including Harvard’s Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting, the Worth Bingham Prize, a Scripps Howard award, an IRE award and the Peabody. He’s a four-time Livingston Award finalist.
