List date(s) this work was published or aired.
January 24, 2011 (Monday)
Provide a brief synopsis of the story or stories, including any significant findings.
In the wake of the January 8, 2011 shooting in Tucson, AZ that claimed six lives and left Rep. Gabrielle Giffords grievously wounded, early coverage brushed quickly past her survival and focused on what appeared to be her remarkable recovery. I quickly embarked on a series of articles and profiles designed to explore both survival and recovery from penetrating brain injury in greater depth and with less breathless optimism. The result was a package consisting of a mainbar, two sidebars (one appearing online only) and four profiles of gunshot victims who survived, which detailed their long roads of recovery and distilled lessons in what factors matter most.
Explain types of documents, data or Internet resources used. Were FOI or public records act requests required? How did this affect the work?
I scoured Medline for medical journal articles that detailed shifts in treatment protocols and outcomes and combed through older medical texts that helped set current trends in broad context. Online searches helped me identify the four gunshot victims profiled and to piece together the circumstances of their injuries.
Explain types of human sources used.
Over about eight days of intensive reporting and writing, I conducted extensive interviews with military and civilian neurosurgeons, brain scientists and rehabilitation experts. I conducted extensive interviews–by phone–with all patients profiled, as well as with their family members and caregivers, and in some cases, physicians familiar with their cases. In choosing whom to profile, I sought out subjects whose recoveries were at different stages and whose circumstances varied substantially, to give readers the long view.
Results:
On Jan. 22, 2012, Rep. Giffords announced her retirement from Congress, saying “I have more work to do on my recovery,” but promising she “would return” to work for Arizona and America. After a steady diet of upbeat news reports about Giffords’ progress, many readers clearly were led to believe her recovery would be swift and complete. But this package of stories provided a more nuanced and realistic view of her prognosis. The articles underscored that while biology and medical advances have made the feat of surviving penetrating brain injury possible, recovery is long, fitful and rarely complete. At the same time, the stories collectively cast light on the remarkable resilience of the brain and of the human spirit.
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.
A Los Angeles gunshot victim profiled was offered substantial rehabilitation help and financial assistance from readers who contacted me in the wake of the articles’ publication. A correction amended the office location of one neurosurgeon quoted, whose practice had recently moved.
Advice to other journalists planning a similar story or project.
Patient profiles need to do more than pull heartstrings. In addition to leavening dense material with human drama, they need to illuminate and extend the research presented elsewhere in a package of stories. Subjects need to be chosen and their stories written with an eye to conveying the breadth of circumstances and outcomes possible in a given healthcare or medical situation. Busy reporters too often reach for the first patient they find, miss the opportunity to find the lesson in a patient’s story, or simply recount the most dramatic personal story they find. Good reporting and good storytelling best serve our readers when they work hand-in-glove.