Three of the stories are part of the Journal Sentinel’s ongoing coverage of financial conflicts of interest and how they have effect the practice of medicine in America. The fourth was an installment in the Journal Sentinel’s “Deadly Delays” series on problems in the nation’s newborn screening system. In one story, Fauber learned that one of the nation’s leading experts on how to safely prescribe narcotic painkillers such as OxyContin, had as many as 20 overdose deaths among patients at his clinic and was under investigation by the DEA. In another story, Fauber introduced readers to the murky new world of “venture philanthropy,” where for-profit drug companies work hand-in-hand with nonprofit charities to develop new treatments, often with the help of taxpayer money. A by-product of these financial relationships was one of the most expensive pills on the planet and huge stock windfalls for executives. As part of his ongoing investigations of the opioid epidemic, Fauber examined hundreds of pages of emails detailing a decade-long, cozy relationship between drug company executives and regulators at the FDA. The story found that drug companies that shelled out up $35,000 each to fund private meetings between the execs and the regulators at fancy hotels in what was described as a pay-for-play arrangement. Finally, Fauber looked into state medical labs around the country that are charged with testing blood samples from newborns for various dozens of genetic disorders. He found that labs in 27 states were closed on weekends leading to delays in diagnosing diseases that can cause serious symptoms or deaths in babies.
