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 industry" ...
-
Human Tissue Donation
It’s a billion dollar business that begins with an act of generosity: When someone or their family agrees to donate a person’s body, for free, after death. When they click the “donor” box on their driver’s license application, most organ donors don’t realize that they have also agreed to donate their tissue. They’ve made a legally binding promise that a private company can take skin, bones, tendons, ligaments and anything that’s not a living organ—and turn it into for-profit medical products. In a four part radio series that aired in July 2012, NPR Correspondent Joseph Shapiro highlighted this little known industry and the shortcomings in regulation that raise concerns among donors, medical professionals, and government officials at many levels. The series was part of a collaboration between NPR’s Investigative Unit and the International Consortium for of Investigative Journalists, a project of the Center for Public Integrity.
Tags: Human tissue donation; organ donors; ICIJ; Center for Public Integrity
-
World's Untold Stories: 25 Years After Midnight
25 years ago a documentary series traveled to Bhopal, a city which suffered the world’s worst industrial disaster that same day. This series focuses on Bhopal and what has changed and what hasn’t. Also, it looks at the lives of the survivors and many of them have given up their lives to speak out about the disaster. “Their experiences tell a story of survival, determination and hope-as they work to help the victims, and ensure that the world never forgets what happened there”.
Tags: India; chemicals; Union Carbide plant; pesticide; rights group; residents; town; environment; safety; medical; money; assistance
-
Doctors of Deception
This book describes the history of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), better known as shock treatment. Doctors promote these treatments as safe; these doctors also receive a great profit from these treatments. Further, this book reveals that these treatments are not safe according to science and evidence from firsthand accounts of patients. ECT can have permanent negative effects on memory and cognition actions.
Tags: doctors; medical; health; science; patients; controversial; procedure; public; shock industry
-
Dead by Mistake
Studies indicate that the death toll for preventable deaths by medicine has more than doubled in the last ten years. "Death by Mistake" assesses the headway being made in the medical industry to reduce likeliness of preventable death.
Tags: medical; preventable; death; Trevor Nelson; Institute of Medicine; patient safety; adverse events;
-
China in Africa: Young Workers, Deadly Mines
Reporters found a Chinese-directed mining industry in Congo that exploited teenagers to risk their lives mining ore. China promised the Congo government a $9 billion loan for access to the mines, but the payment never arrived.
Tags: lung disease; dust; false medical report; raw materials; Peru; Zimbabwe; mining inspection;
-
Suddenly Sick
In this series, The Seattle Times revealed their findings from an investigation into the medical world. Among other things, they found that: "Pharmaceutical firms have commandeered the process by which diseases are defined." They reported that the World Health Organization and the U.S. Institutes of Health, among others, receive money from drug companies to promote the agendas of those companies. They also found that "some diseases have been radically redefined without a strong basis in medical evidence."
Tags: medicine; doctors; physicians; medical industry; hospitals; health; pharmaceutical; WHO; NIH; National Institute of Health
-
Kids, Antidepressants, and Money
This series uncovered how Texas was medicating foster children with powerful and sometimes dangerous psychotropic drugs. In many cases, these drugs were not necessary and over-prescribed. The children were being systematically medicated due to the mandated use of a program that was designed by "expert consultants" who were also paid consultants for the pharmaceutical industry.
Tags: psychotropic drugs; foster children; Texas Medical Director; antidepressants; Paxil; Texas Child Welfare System; Federal Medicaid Program
-
Rent a Patient
In this hidden camera investigation, ABC News Primetime uncovers the nationwide medical insurance scam that sends healthy people to surgery for profit. So far, recruiting people to have unnecessary procedures done has cost the insurance industry billions of dollars in fraudulent claims. Recruiters pull people in with offers of free cosmetic surgery and, in many cases, they are required to have the expensive procedures far from home. "The story resulted in the indictment of one surgery center, where ABC News correspondent John Quinones was offered money to have surgery. On the day our report aired, the FBI raided that facility and three others."
Tags: medical insurance scams; suspicious claims; healthcare; cosmetic surgery; insurance fraud
-
As Good As New?
The recycling and re-use of medical devices labeled for one use only is called reprocessing, and is a controversial practice in the medical industry. Thousands of different devices are re-used by hospitals around the country, ranging from simple blood-pressure cuffs to highly-invasive catheters and biopsy tools. The practice saves hospitals millions of dollars, but consumers generally have no idea.
Tags: medical reprocessing; Food and Drug Administration; MAUDE data; recycling medical devices; re-using medical devices
-
A Suicide Side Effect?: What Parents Aren't Being Told About Their Kids' Antidepressants, Drug Report Barred by FDA: Scientist Link Antidepressants to Suicide in Kids, Alert on Antidepressants for Kids, Lawmakers Open Probe of FDA, FDA Was Urged to Limit Kids' Antidepressants
This series by the San Francisco Chronicle explores the increasing trend of children being prescribed antidepressants, as well as the suicidal acts which may result from the medication. Waters looks into how the FDA has failed these children by withholding reviews of antidepressant safety from the public and failing to regulate the industry.
Tags: Food and Drug Administration; antidepressants; suicide