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 "surgeon general" ...
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Army Blocks Disbility Paperwork
After the series the Army revised policies on how it works with the Department of Veteran' Affairs because of the previous management problems that harmed disabled veterans.
Tags: wounded soldier; disable; surgeon general; Fort Drum; Eric Schoomaker
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Dangerous Remedy
Robert Little of The (Baltimore) Sun reported that the U.S. Army has injected over 1000 soldiers wounded in Iraq with a medicine designed for hemophiliacs despite the fact that it is dangerous for people with normal blood. It can give them blood clots that could cause strokes and heart attacks. It costs $6000 per dose. Civilian doctors "have largely rejected it as a standard treatment for trauma patients." Army doctors say, in their experience, the drug saves lives by stopping hemorrhaging. Little says “Doctors in Iraq's emergency rooms, however, almost never care for their patients long enough to see firsthand whether blood clots or other complications have developed." Little reports that "the drug has never been subjected to a large-scale clinical trial to verify that it works and is safe for patients without hemophilia."
Tags: military medical system; Iraq; coagulant; Institute for Surgical Research; Germany; military hospitals; Food and Drug Administration; FDA; U.S. Department of Defense; DoD; Marines; Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs; U.S. Army Surgeon General; HIPPA; actionable intelligence; Recombinant Activated Factor VII; Novo Nordisk; coagulopathic bleeding;
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Mentally Unfit, Forced to Fight
The series investigated mental health screening and treatment for service members deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. Based on Defense Department records data and interviews with more than 100 mental health experts, service members, and the relatives and friends of troops who committed suicide in the war zone, we reported that the military was increasingly sending, keeping and recycling mentally troubles troops into combat, in violation of the military's own regulations, and with tragic consequences."
Tags: psychology; psychotropic; medication; post-traumatic stress; battlefield; Army Surgeon General
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District bets on sports medicine
North Broward County Hospital District hired three new physicians as team doctors, clinicians who work with regular patients and as medical directors of a new sports medicine institute. The three doctors will receive $16.5 million over nine years, much higher salaries than most orthopedic surgeons in the Southeast receive. Other physicians and critics say this is unfair because the district never looked into other options which may have been cheaper for taxpayers, such as seeking competitive bids. They believe this deal may have "more to do with politics than with medicine."
Tags: Professional sports; Dr. George Caldwell; Dr. Erol Yoldas; Dr. Daniel Kanell
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The High Cost of Perfection
Hipp's trek through mounds of court records results in the compelling story of a plastic surgeon in crisis. Dr. Eric Swanson had about 20 lawsuits filed against him, yet he was able to maintain his practice for some time. Finally, medical boards suspended his licenses. He eventually declared bankruptcy, which postponed action on several of the lawsuits. Swanson's former patients tell of the horrors of plastic surgery gone awry.
Tags: doctor; hospital; surgery; plastic surgery; cosmetic; face; facial; facelift; liposuction; laser; lawsuit; malpractice; medical board; patient
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"Bed Check: HMO Rates Hospitals; Many Don't Like It, But They Get Better"
Burton looks at a study of cardiac units in Ohio hospitals by Anthem Blue Cross & Blue Shield. Surprisingly, he says, the study's rankings show a relatively unknown hospital to have the best care for heart surgery patients, while the more famous clinics don't score so well. He traces the fallout from the study's announcements.
Tags: Anthem; Blue Cross; Blue Shield; cardiac; heart; rankings; mortality; nurse; doctor; surgery; surgeon; Ohio State; St. Elizabeth
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Surgeon pulls in revenue at a price
The Orange County Register documented a ten-year history of problems with Dr. Israel Chambi, chief of neurosurgery at the largest head trauma center in Orange County. It found that Chambi "has repeatedly been accused of performing unnecessary surgeries, making grave errors in the operating room, and lying to patients. Chambi has been sued 10 times as often as any other Orange County neurosurgeon; 10 patients won settlements or verdicts that total more than $3 million." The paper also found that Western Medical Center "had a powerful economic motivation not to ask too many questions: Chambi's division generates $38 million a year in billings for the hospital."
Tags: Dr. Israel Chambi; neurosurgery; Orange County; unnecessary surgery; physician errors; malpractice; hospitals; Western Medical Center; Tenet Healthcare Corp.; lawsuits; healthcare; doctors
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The trouble with trocars
A Smart Money investigation examines the risks to patients operated with trocar, "a razor-sharp instrument used in millions of laparoscopic surgeries each year, including hysteroctomies and gall bladder operations." The device is described as a metal spike the doctor forces into the abdomen into the beginning of the surgery, stabbing blindly for a few moments, before a camera can be inserted. The story reveals that many doctors are "alarmed at the numbers of serious injuries and deaths they say are linked to this device." The reporter points to statistics, showing more than 40,000 trocar-related injuries in the last ten years, and reveals an FDA admittance that many injuries go underreported. The force for change now comes from malpractice insurers tired of paying out claims, the magazine finds.
Tags: FDA; medicine; gynecology; malpractice; insurance; health; doctors; surgeons; blood vessels; arteries; Physicians Insurers Association of America; laparoscopy
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Carlos Chaves, Mall Surgeon
The Houston Press reports on a doctor doing cosmetic surgery out of a Texas mall. "Dr." Carlos Chaves, who was not licensed to practice medicine in the United States, had been also practicing unlicensed surgeries out of a home in Miami. Immigrant doctors face a difficult time getting licensed in the U.S. Chaves, and others like him, mostly serve a clientele of Spanish-speaking immigrants who are unlikely to complain or seek legal remedies, if something goes wrong.
Tags: doctors; licensing; immigrant doctors
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A Critical Condition
Delaware Today examines the growing problem with long emergency-visits waits in the state. The story finds that critical-care cases have increased, but "hospitals are unable to keep up with demands for space, staff and services due to decreases in federal funding." The article looks at the emergency rooms in Nanticoke Memorial Hospital, St. Francis hospital, Beebe hospital, and Christiana Care, and finds that all of them need to be expanded.
Tags: medicine; health care; trauma; patients; surgeons; hospitals; nurses; doctors; physicians; response time; Delaware Healthcare Association