In the series “Out of Control,” Reuters exposed the U.S. medical establishment’s mismanagement of the diabetes epidemic and the tragic consequences for patients and their families, leaving few Americans untouched.
The Reuters team anchored the series with unique data analyses and vivid profiles of diabetes patients who receive too little care, or too much, or who were harmed by the medication they took. The series also met the daunting challenge of conveying to readers in clear, concise language the infinite complexities of diabetes, what it is and how it is managed. All of this was enhanced by compelling photography, video and graphics.
The disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on people with diabetes was widely reported. But in part one, “How the pandemic laid bare America’s diabetes crisis,” the Reuters team revealed a deeper problem. Through her own data analysis, reporter Robin Respaut showed that deaths from diabetes apart from COVID-19 surged during the pandemic. She then queried all 50 states for additional data showing diabetic complications were worsening prior to the pandemic. This formed the basis of the story’s central finding that the overall condition of diabetes patients had been worsening for years. So when the pandemic hit, they were not only more vulnerable to the virus, but also to the isolation and disruptions to care caused by the pandemic.
While that first story revealed how diabetes patients were frequently suffering from a lack of care, part two, “Drugmakers pushed aggressive diabetes therapy. Patients paid the price,” exposed the lethal impact of overtreatment on many others. Based on Respaut’s unique analysis of 911 emergency-call data, Reuters was first to report that the leading reason for diabetes-related calls is hypoglycemia — severely low blood sugar that is almost always caused by medication intended to treat diabetes. Then reporter Deborah Nelson combed through thousands of records recovered from Internet archives and sources’ files to expose the drug industry’s hand in this epidemic of hypoglycemic emergencies. In a meticulously constructed narrative, the story described drugmakers’ concerted effort over many years to influence the establishment of an aggressive treatment goal that increased their sales and patients’ risk of hypoglycemia.
In “As red flags multiplied, Johnson & Johnson kept quiet on popular diabetes drug,” Reuters exposed how the giant company put potential profits ahead of patient safety in bringing its blockbuster drug Invokana to market. The increasing number of warnings on Invokana’s label had been covered. But reporter Chad Terhune gained access to a vast trove of internal J&J documents that had never been publicly disclosed to reveal how the company repeatedly rejected pleas from its own safety experts to alert regulators and the public about a potentially deadly side effect.
The final installment in the series, “Where the need is great, a fresh prescription for diabetes,” provided a hopeful antidote to what came before it. The story examined fledgling efforts across the country to treat type 2 diabetes with prescriptions for fresh produce and other healthy foods, instead of just throwing pills at the problem.