The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "Medical Board of California" ...
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When Caregivers Harm
The investigation exposes failure of state nursing overseers to take corrective action against licensed caregivers accused of malpractice. Lack of competent oversight led impaired nurses to cause harm to patients through abuse, negligence and stealing patient medication for recreational use among other wrongdoings.
Tags: nurses; California; Nursing Board; harm; caregivers; Tracy Weber; malpractice; drugs; abuse; negligence; discipline;
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The Troubles at King/ Drew
The reporters began with a basic analysis of all the hospitals in the Los Angeles County public hospital system. They found that the most severe problems and violations were happening at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center, formed after the 1965 Watts riots to serve the poor of southern Los Angeles. The problems ranged from underfunding to staff misdiagnoses, accidental patient deaths, and racist politics on the hospital's Board of Supervisors. The reporters also interviewed healthcare experts and published six detailed possible solutions to the problems facing the hospital.
Tags: healthcare; doctors; pathologist; Medical Board of California; American Medical Association; medical malpractice; civil rights
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Doctors without discipline
California's health care system has a serious problem with allowing physicians with a history of causing patients injury or death to continue practicing. Heisel and Saar created a database to illustrate the significance of the problem. They used one doctor as a case study to "carry readers through the complicated system of medical regulations"
Tags: doctors; physicians; medical board; malpractice; lawsuits; hospitals; medical; medicine; medical offices; OB/GYNs
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An anatomy of malpractice
Because the Medical Board keeps secret many details about malpractice cases, patients have insufficient data to determine whether a doctor is among the profession's bad apples. But through a review of thousands of documents and dozens of interviews, the Daily News has pieced together a detailed look inside the system that is supposed to protect patients in California.
Tags: Medical Board; malpractice; protection; access; patients
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Patients don't get full story on doctors
San Francisco Chronicle reports on the lack of information about malpractice verdicts on the website of the Medical Board of California. The story reveals that the public database omits records on doctors' misdemeanors, remedial actions (like drug and alcohol treatment programs), malpractice settlements, various lawsuits, complaints, detailed information on formal discipline, etc. Consumers are required to write the Medical Board for detailed information, and often wait for weeks to get a response. Wallack points to three high-dollar verdicts against negligent doctors, which were not included in the state board's database.
Tags: San Diego's Center for Public Interest Law; physicians; licensing; incompetence; negligence
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The Impostor
Reader's Digest tells the story of Gerald Barnes, a con man who has been posing as a doctor or a pharmacist for decades without having a medical degree. The article reveals how Barnes has managed to fool state authorities, employers, patients, five wives and even F.B.I., both before and after he was charged with involuntarily manslaughter of a patient. The story sheds light on Barnes's involvement in amateur acting in the past, and exposes some loopholes in the medical practice system.
Tags: white-collar crime; medicine; pharmacy; medical schools; Hofgarden Medical; Medical Board of California; Pacific Southwest Medical Group; hospitals; clinics
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Questionable Operators
The Leader-Telegram "dug into the backgrounds of two questionable doctors in high-profile specialties who transplanted to Eau Claire (Wis.) late in their careers. What they found rocked the regional health-care industry and shocked the conscience of the community.... (One doctor) had reached an illegal, secret deal with hospital officials in California to cover up his suspect medical record and allow him to practice in Wisconsin... (The other doctor) had been the target of more than twice as many malpractice claims as any other neurosurgeon in Wisconsin since moving his practice..."
Tags: M. Terry McEnany; Thomas V. Rankin surpressed medical records disciplinary actions lawsuits bankruptcy Medical Board of California medical license application Medical Examining Board secrecy
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1997 IRE TV Award Winners and Finalist.
The 1997 IRE TV Award Winners and Finalist tape is a compilation of 5 stories. 1.) "Blood Money," ABC News. Chilling video of the executions of Chinese prisoners and the selling of their organs to fund a profit-making organized criminal activity. See #14327. 2.) "Probable Cause," Dateline, NBC News. Systematic illegal traffic stops, brutal behavior and unfair drug seizures in Louisiana with a system where judges who decide cases benefit from ill-gotten gains and innocent citizens actually pay to go to court and get their appeals heard. See #14444. 3.) "License For Sale." KCBS, Los Angeles. An elaborate network for selling legitimate California driver licenses used for everything from getting government services to boarding commercial airlines. See # 14316. 4.) "Poor Justice? The Susan Cummings Story," KOMO, Seattle. The conviction and imprisonment of a 16-year-old girl for a murder she may not have committed. See #14305. 5.) "Military Medical Malpractice," WRAL, Raleigh N.C. Medical malpractice remains a well-kept military secret, with no one protecting millions of servicemen and women or their families from shocking standards and practices by inept doctors. See # 14287.
Tags: TAPE; crime; court; police; health care; veteran; hospital; foi; car; ire; no transcripts.
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The Medical Board of California: A controversial past, a confusing present, a brighter future?
California Physician reports that "Since 1975, the Medical Board of California, formerly the Board of Medical Quality Assurance, has provided primary oversight for licensing and enforcement of practice standards for health professions in California. As with any regulatory body with a complex range of responsibilities, MBC's performance has been the subject of criticism over the years--most recently, a six-month investigation of MBC by the California Highway Patrol has received substantial press and raised serious questions about management practices within the Board."
Tags: accountability disciplinary process state legislature physician review reform
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No title (id: 10717)
The Los Angeles Daily News gained access to previously sealed copies of medical malpractice settlement records in the state. The series paved the way for other papers to seek more information on physicians from the medical board and to call for more disclosure, Mar. 6 - 8, 1994.