1. Provide the title of your story or series and the names of the journalists involved.
A script for the show: Live cases in cardiology get a code of conduct
2. List date(s) this work was published or aired.
6-Oct-10
3. Provide a brief synopsis of the story or stories, including any significant findings.
For years, "live case demonstrations" have been signature features of certain medical meetings. In a live-case, a real-live patients, with real, often life-threatening disease, undergo procedures with the cameras rolling, a remote panel of expert 'moderators' asking questions of the operators or providing suggestions, and an audience of physicians, sometimes thousands, watching everything unfold in real time. In recent years, the American College of Surgeons (ACS) has banned live cases from its meetings, and the American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS) and the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) issued a statement prohibiting live case broadcasts to the general public and discouraging the use of live demonstrations to audiences of any kind when taped cases could be used instead. By contrast, interventional cardiology meetings are relying even more heavily on what I call the "technological, logistical, and medical wizardry" that are live-case demos and for the first time have issued a set of controversial guidelines. I explore the pros and cons of live-case demos in my story.
4. Explain types of documents, data or Internet resources used. Were FOI or public records act requests required? How did this affect the work?
Published guidelines were used, as was attendance at these live case meetings.
5. Explain types of human sources used.
Interviews, primarily.
6. Results (if any).
This story prompted some lively comments on theheart.org.
7. 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.
No
8. Advice to other journalists planning a similar story or project.
I've followed this topic for years and take the time to always ask people what they think of live cases–people's opinions have markedly shifted over the years. I did a story on this same topic seven years ago and people's attitudes have indeed changed.