Journalism in the Public Interest


Brushes With the Medical System

Four veteran health-care journalists describe the personal experiences that helped shape their reporting.

Charles Ornstein with his mother Harriet Ornstein on his wedding day. (Randall Stewart, Photo courtesy of Charles Ornstein)




Lately, I’ve been wondering about whether other journalists have been affected by their own brushes with the medical system. I asked four of them to weigh in — Peter Frost of the Chicago Tribune, Gary Schwitzer of, Lisa Chedekel of Connecticut Health Investigative Team and Katy Butler, author of the book “Knocking on Heaven’s Door.” Here’s what they told me:

Peter Frost





Gary Schwitzer



Lisa Chedekel






Katy Butler








“with the pacemaker the easiest path to a natural death.”

Was this phrase meant to be “with the pacemaker barring the easiest path to a natural death”?  Otherwise, the sentence doesn’t make sense.  Be nice to have some clarification.

It matters partly because my mother has left bundle branch block and every time she has any kind of problem, the cardiologist does all sorts of testing again, and there’s mention of a need for a pacemaker.  My mother is in her 90’s, and she’s aware of what a pacemaker is (my father had to have one), and she is mentally competent.  But it’s difficult for us to discuss these issues, i.e., how much medical care do you want?  She has a medical care directive that limits care and in it she states she wants to stay at home for as long as possible, and if it is possible, to die there.  At least one of her friends declined “medical” care when she became ill, chose death instead.  That woman was able to die at home, we all still miss her (she died 3 years ago) but I believe her choice was a brave one.  She lived in Argentina, apparently there is not as huge a push to try “everything” no matter how expensive or destructive of quality of life, to extend “life” there.  Neither the MD, nor her daughter seems to have resisted or counseled against her decision.

Kathleen Finlay | Patient Protection Canada

Nov. 13, 2013, 2:57 p.m.

Nothing shatters myths about healthcare systems more than the reality to which one is exposed when it involves a member of the family.  My mother’s horrific ordeal of pain and neglect and a record number of medication errors prompted a change in my career and a focus on the epidemic of medical errors that is the third leading cause of death in the United States and Canada. 

It is unacceptable that more than a decade after the problem first came to light, basic errors are still being made on a huge scale every day.  The healthcare sector has advanced many excuses.  We have a different approach.  It is called the campaign to “just stop it.”  More at

Recently, a patient advocacy group announced a goal of eliminating preventable deaths resulting from medical errors by 2010.  At the most conservative estimates, that means at least 1.2 million Americans will die over the next six years while the healthcare industry gets its act together.  That would be like the whole city of Dallas being wiped out.  Surely we must do better.

A pacemaker keeps you alive . When you are about to die , the pacemaker will ’ kick ’ you back to life . If you want to die ( with dignity ) turn it off .

Obamacare is simply a give-away to the pharmaceutical and insurance industries. The idea that “America has the best healthcare system in the world” is either a myth, or a fantasy, depending on your perspective. It’s not about “health care” - it’s about MONEY & PROFIT. These are just a few of the sad truths you kids finally learned for yourselves. Just imagine what LIES you still believe about the pseudo-science of psychiatry, and the MYTHS of “mental illness”...(....hint: DRUGS & money/profit….)....
You kids need to learn to TELL THE TRUTH. The A.M.A. is NOT YOUR friend….

The real problem with our health care is that insurance companies have set the tone for it all, and it even ends up in Medicare.  Anyone on the instructor level in a teaching hospital will tell you that the most important thing in patient care and diagnosis is TIME spent with the patient.  Since insurance sets limits on that, doctors are now used to being regulated-no matter what the problem- to 15 minutes with patients.  And they are also specifying that only one ‘problem’ can be discussed during that time.  My daughter was recently in her doctor’s exam room, and his nurse was getting the BP, history before he came in, so she asked what my daughter was seeing him for.  She replied she had two things she needed him to look into; his nurse told her she would have to make a second appointment for the other problem.  My daughter works 10 hour days in a professional arena.  She also has the
majority of responsibility of her son, as divorced mother.  One appointment was hard enough for her to schedule and totally unnecessary for the information she wanted. 
Having traveled to around 30 countries, most of which have Universal care, and gone to 4 international medical meetings, talking with medical people there, as well as people on the street….....I know they LOVE universal health care, have better (sometimes FAR better) health care than we have and pay MUCH less for it…and the government does not tell them how to practice medicine like the insurance companies do here, limiting time for patient visits.  The government DOES get bids on drugs, health aides etc, while demanding good quality, that keeps the price down for all.  And there is no middleman picking up the profit.

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