William Heisel's blog posts @ ReportingOnHealth.org

Doctors Behaving Badly: Drug researcher was addicted to falsehoods

William Heisel — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 06:00:00 -0800

Clinical psychologist William Fals-Stewart should have quit while he was ahead.

While studying drug use at the University of Buffalo Research Institute on Addictions, Fals-Stewart was accused in 2004 of faking his data in reports to the federal government. In one case, he said he had studied more than 200 subjects, yet he only had consent forms for about 50.

The Shadow Practice, Part 1: Disciplined doctor found an exile community in immigrant health care

William Heisel — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 06:00:00 -0800

The Anaheim obstetrician accused in a patient’s death was part of a community of doctors on the fringe who had escaped the stigma of their pasts by treating immigrants.

Dr. Andrew Rutland was charged by the Medical Board of California in December of negligence after the death of a Chinese immigrant, Ying Chen, at a San Gabriel clinic. Rutland had been trying to give her an abortion, the board said, when he administered a fatal dose of lidocaine, an anesthetic.

Q&A with Scott and Kathy Broussard: Feeling called to demand better doctor oversight

William Heisel — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 06:00:00 -0800

Scott Broussard is a battalion chief with the Costa Mesa Fire Department. He’s used to knocking down doors when there is an emergency and trying to stay steady in the midst of chaos. Kathy Broussard is a pediatric intensive care nurse who has seen children die and children saved from the brink of death. She is now focused on raising her two children.

Conrad Murray's Mistakes, Part 6: Bad choices in Michael Jackson’s death led to rare homicide finding

William Heisel — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 06:00:00 -0800

The doctor did it. In the bedroom. With an an anesthetic.

The Los Angeles County Coroner spent 51 pages of minute calculations and detailed examinations to come to that simple conclusion on Aug. 24, 2009. Jackson had died from a lethal dose of propofol and other drugs and the death was a homicide.

This was perhaps the most surprising thing about the Michael Jackson case, because coroners are so reluctant to say a physician killed someone.

Doctors Behaving Badly: For ‘infant whisperer,’ insurance fraud was like stealing candy from babies

William Heisel — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 06:00:00 -0800

The readers of the Lancaster (Penn.) New Era had ample reason to be doubtful of the new doctor who had come to town being touted as “the infant whisperer.”

The New Era wrote a classic, glowing profile, quoting patients who said Dr. Saroj K. Parida, chief of neonatology at Lancaster Regional Medical Center, had saved their children’s lives. And perhaps he had.

Conrad Murray’s Mistakes, Part 5: Isolated from his peers, Michael Jackson's doctor had no cover

William Heisel — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 06:00:00 -0800

Far fewer people would know Dr. Conrad Murray’s name if Michael Jackson had died in a hospital.

Not only would Murray have people with similar training around to corroborate his story, but he would have entered the secretive peer review system.

Doctors have the power to conduct “peer reviews” at hospitals that could lead to a doctor losing his privileges to perform surgeries, see patients and otherwise practice medicine there. In the best case scenario, physicians police their own and take stern – albeit secretive – action.

Conrad Murray’s Mistakes, Part 4: When Michael Jackson collapsed, story spun out of doc's control

William Heisel — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 06:00:00 -0800

Here’s where you have to pity Dr. Conrad Murray, regardless of whether you think he’s guilty.

Doctors Behaving Badly: Obstetrics pioneers may have killed for science

William Heisel — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 06:00:00 -0800

The doctors responsible for the safe delivery of millions of babies over the past two and a half centuries may have been serial killers.

Some of the more cynical followers of Doctors Behaving Badly may not find this hard to believe, but it has caused quite a stir in Britain, where William Hunter and William Smellie created the science underlying modern day obstetrics. As Denis Campbell in the London Observer notes:

Conrad Murray’s Mistakes, Part 3: Using a Hospital-Only Drug in Michael Jackson’ Bedroom

William Heisel — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 06:00:00 -0800

It was bad enough for Dr. Conrad Murray to be giving Michael Jackson propofol when he had no training administering anesthetics. His second mistake was using a dangerous drug in an improper setting: a bedroom.

Here was Murray’s surgical suite, according to the Los Angeles County Coroner’s report:

Conrad Murray's Mistakes 2: Lack of training fueled criminal case in Michael Jackson death

William Heisel — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 06:00:00 -0800

Dr. Conrad Murray made his first mistake when he signed on to be Michael Jackson’s personal physician.

Perhaps the task was doomed for any doctor, but Murray was particularly ill equipped to deal with the King of Pop’s concoction of quirks and cravings. Murray was operating well outside of his training, and this gives prosecutors their first plank in building a motive. Murray didn’t care about Jackson as a patient, they will say. He only wanted that $1.5 million pay check.