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 "Staph" ...
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Culture of Resistance
The Seattle Time analyzed millions of computerized hospital records, death certificate and other documents to track the swath of one of the nation's most widespread, and preventable, epidemics. In its investigation, the Times gained access to state files that revealed 672 previously undisclosed deaths attributable to the infection. The Times also found that in Seattle's largest public hospital, some patients who are infected with contagious MRSA are roomed with non-infected patients because of overcrowding. In at least a dozen cases, the Times proved that death certificates were inaccurate or incomplete when it came to MRSA.
Tags: methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA); Washington state; health and safety; infectious diseases; epidemiology; staph infections.
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The Scourge of Skid Row
In Los Angeles' Skid Row, the lives of police, firefighters, social workers and homeless people are threatened by a staph infection outbreak. Yet the country health department has done little to assist, even as L.A. firefighters and police, as well as a doctor, chaplain and employees at local homeless Missions were infected.
Tags: Staph; LAPD; LAFD; Skid Row; staph outbreak; staph infection
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"Prison medicine: Costly decisions, dire consequences"
This series of stories revealed substandard medical care in Ohio prisons. The death of a 19-year-old inmate from a staph skin infection prompted the investigation, which later revealed a settlement from a wrongful death lawsuit, prison doctors who lied about their backgrounds and state-hired doctor-placement agencies with repeated problems. Four months after the investigation the Ohio Prison Department recommended 140 changes to the prison medical system.
Tags: inmates; prisons; death; medical care; health care
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Deadly Secrets: The hidden threat of hospital germs
This special report exposed the prevalence of deadly hospital germs passed on to patients by dirty medical equipment and workers who ignore basic precautions such as hand-washing. The report detailed the failure of the health care system to meet its top priority - keeping patients safe. There is no standard way of documenting hospital-acquired infections, and so patients don't know what sort of record their hospital has. These sorts of infections, the most well - known is Staph, are becoming increasingly common.
Tags: doctors; pharmacies; disease
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Prison Medicine: Costly Decisions, Dire Consequences
The Dispatch follows the lead from the death of a 19-year old inmate Sean Schwamberger from an undetected drug-resistant staph infection, in order to carry out a detailed investigation of healthcare in prisons. The revelations are startling. While some critically ill inmates died after waiting an hour for ambulances, some went without surgery for 16 months during which time their ailments worsened. It was also found that the track record of some physicians who treated the inmates, included felony. And amid complaints of the low caliber and poor performance of contractor-provided physicians, the taxpayer pays more than $1 million in bills to pay wrongful death and medical negligence claims filed by inmates and their families.
Tags: Gov. Bob Taft; Pickaway Correctional Institution; Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction; Dr. Bruce Martin
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Staph: Microscopic but deadly foe looms larger in North Carolina
This article examines the increase in staph infection cases detected by a local hospital lab. Reiss used as much data as the hospital would give him to review the cases and also the death-certificate database maintained by the state Vital Record Office. The reporter then used Microsoft Access and Excel with that data to analyze the findings.
Tags: staph infections; bacteria; hospitals; health care; diseases
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Outbreak
This investigation examines one of the medical professions dirtiest secrets: staph infections. The report says that "thousands of people a year die from Legionnaires' Disease that they contract from bacteria in hospital water systems" - often because they've got a disease doctors don't know how to diagnose or treat.
Tags: TAPE TRANSCRIPT Legionella; CDC; health department; medicine