About Grace Rubenstein
Grace Rubenstein is an independent journalist in Sacramento, Calif. She is attending Health Journalism 2013 on an AHCJ-Rural Health Journalism Fellowship, which is supported by the Leona M. & Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust.
The presentation of the 2013 Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism at Health Journalism 2013 was a blend of irreverence and reverence, celebrating journalists’ work exposing health care and public health problems while acknowledging the tragedies that lie behind the stories.
It began by applauding the award winners for addressing hospital costs, lead poisoning, obesity and the national fungal meningitis outbreak, among other pressing topics. Broadcast reporter Kelley Weiss continued the ceremony by testifying to AHCJ’s support for her growth as a journalist, allowing her to go behind the scenes at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, coaching her through her first experience filing a public-records request, and leading her to a job she loves at the California HealthCare Foundation’s Center for Health Reporting.
And then David Goldhill took the stage, and the celebratory tone changed.
Goldhill, who is president and chief executive officer of the cable network GSN, described his family’s battles with health care failures and hospital billing errors, captured in his new book “Catastrophic Care: How American Health Care Killed My Father — And How We Can Fix It” (Knopf). Several years ago his father went into the hospital with apparent pneumonia and within weeks died of secondary, preventable infections. More recently, his young son needed an emergency appendectomy. The family had to fill out the same detailed forms twice and wait five hours for surgery, while the boy was doubled over in pain, and a morphine prescription took 90 minutes to arrive even with the pharmacy a mere 100 feet away. Continue reading →
AHCJ’s 2017 Awards for Excellence in Health Care Journalism is now accepting entries. Follow this link to create an entry. Since 2004, the awards have recognized the best health reporting in print, broadcast and online media.
