Tag Archives: doctor

Lack of awareness of Valley fever is the disease’s biggest danger

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Photo by Tristan Ettleman/Cronkite News“Time is lost and the patient gets worse,” Valley fever patient Jim Meenaghan said of physicians’ unfamiliarity with the disease.

PHOENIX — Doctors can misdiagnose Valley fever, a fungal disease that lurks behind common symptoms like coughs and fatigue, because many aren’t familiar with the respiratory disease, medical experts said. And that could prolong patient suffering.

Misdiagnoses not only hinder Valley fever recovery, they can make it worse, said John Galgiani, director of the Valley Fever Center for Excellence in Tucson. Galgiani is speaking about the dangers of the respiratory disease on Sunday at the Association of Health Care Journalists conference, Health Journalism 2018, in Phoenix. Continue reading →

Tristan Ettleman, a Cronkite News digital reporter on the futures beat, covers the intersection of technology and society. His portfolio includes a story on the revolution of block chain, the tech behind cryptocurrency, in the medical field and other industries.

Threat of lawsuit prompts editor to dig into complainant’s past

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Ron Shinkman

Ron Shinkman

If you’ve ever wondered what it would be like to face a lawsuit over a story you’ve written, you’ll want to read how Ron Shinkman responded when a source threatened to sue.

The editor and publisher of Payers & Providers, a newsletter in Los Angeles, Shinkman got the phone call we all dread. On the line that day in March 2012 was Jeannette Martello, MD.., a plastic surgeon Shinkman had covered when the California Department of Managed Health Care enjoined her from balance billing her patients.

As Shinkman writes in a new How I did It, the article was a just-the-facts brief based on a report the insurance regulator issued. Continue reading →

Joseph Burns (@jburns18), an independent journalist who resides in Brewster, Massachusetts, is AHCJ’s topic leader on health reform. He welcomes questions and suggestions and tip sheets at joseph@healthjournalism.org.