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 "local hospital" ...
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Stolen Identities
After finding suspicious documents, the story reveals a huge identity theft ring. The police ignored the evidence, but the investigators used these records to track down the individuals involved in the scandal. After tracking down the individuals involved, the police decided to arrest, charge, and eventually convict them. Further, every victim had their identity returned to them.
Tags: local hospital; St. Anthony Central Hospital; law enforcement; patient records; stolen data; hospital worker; Sheriff Department
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"First, Do No Harm/Behind The Curtain"
Two women have come forward to say they were sexual assaulted by a male ER nurse while in the care of North Kansas City Hospital. The women were heavily drugged while the assaults occurred. KCTV reporters found that sexual assault on hospital patients is not as rare a problem as most might think. However, when asked about the issue, local advocacy groups, state nursing boards and even the senior V.P. of the Joint Commission were unaware it even existed.
Tags: MOCSA; Joint Commission; Federal Department of Health and Human Services; North Kansas City Hospital; William Price; Center for Health Ethics; Sarah Breier; Missouri State Board of Nursing; Paul Schyve
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In Their Dust
The Baltimore Sun discovered that unbeknownst to state regulators and legislators, non-profit hospitals were suing tens of thousands of patients in local courts over unpaid bills even though those bills were covered through the rate-setting system. Some of the hospitals that filed the most lawsuits were also collecting consistent surpluses on unpaid and charity care through the rate-setting formula, something that the rate-setting commission could not explain. Patients were often railroaded through the legal system. And hospitals violated state laws or contracts with insurance companies by suing patients for amounts they were not permitted to collect.
Tags: hospitals; patient billing fraud; non-profit corruption; health care; debt collection; ground rent; hospital rates; suing patients
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Doubts About Cassey
Over the course of a decade, AIDS activist Cassey Weierbach told her tragic story of contracting HIV from a man who raped her. The local people in Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley helped her when she needed it, as they "held her hand when she was laid up in a hospital bed. They’ve cooked her meals and done her laundry. They’ve passed the plate for her on Sunday and paid her rent when it was overdue." But a pastor revealed her accusation that Weierbach did not have AIDS, and was deceiving everyone. Others questioned the veracity of Weierbach's story, as it also included details of a best friend, the alleged rapist's daughter and also a rape victim of the same man, shooting herself in front of Weierbach. Weierbach also claimed her father died in a famous plane crash. Both individuals were still alive and well, and quoted for the story. The Morning Call tells the story of a community and a woman who may or may not have been telling the truth about an affliction with a terrible disease. In the wake of the story, Weierbach was charged with defrauding the state of $67,000 worth of medical benefits.
Tags: AIDS; HIV; Munchausen syndrome; fake illness; fraud; medical fraud
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Troubles at Stony Brook University Medical Center
Newsday investigates serious issues in medical care at Stony Brook University Medical Center. They uncovered trouble including the "unexpected deaths of three children, (which) spurred investigations by federal, state and local agencies, forced the shutdown of one of the implicated medical departments at the hospital and inspired a legislative proposal to establish a new oversight board for the hospital."
Tags: Stony Brook University Medical Center; pediatric cardiac surgery; surgery complications
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Healthcare on Life Support
"For six weeks a team of nine reporters from the Center for Investigative Reporting in Sarajevo (CIN) visited hospitals and clinics and talked with the people who work and are treated there. They found a healthcare system that is desperately sick." The reporters analyzed the various problems in the system, examined funding issues and consulted experts on possible solutions.
Tags: health care; insurance; hospitals; NGOs
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Hospital Authority Board, Agency Uses Chairwoman's Firm
"The Hospital Authority of Richmond, which oversees the city-owned nursing home, paid more than $1 million for services to a company owned by the chairwoman of the Authority. The hospital spent about fifteen percent of its income on management, which is at least double what other local homes spend."
Tags: nursing homes; contracts; Seven Hills Health Care Center; M.H. West and Co.
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Toxic air raises unhealthy odds
This examination centers on an Indianapolis neighborhood that has had more people die of lung cancer than anywhere else in Marion County. The investigation found that residents of the neighborhood, in an industrial part of town, were hospitalized for respiratory problems at rates more than three times the county average. Nevertheless, state and local health officials have done almost nothing to investigate documented risks from air pollution or the health problems they may cause.
Tags: cancer cluster; air pollution; cancer death rates; EPA; Environmental Protection Agency; National Toxic Assessments data; public health
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Presumed Dead
The topic of this story began when a local Marine, just returning from Iraq, was involved in a fatal car accident. The other drivers suffered minor injuries, but the corporal's truck was severely damaged. While waiting for paramedics, witnesses found the man breathing, but could not find a pulse. When the police arrived, they presumed the man to be dead because he did not have a pulse, and would not let paramedics work on him, fearing it would disrupt the crime scene. Two hours later the paramedic noticed the man was still breathing, and had him flown to the nearest hospital, where he died in the emergency room. Reporters discovered that there's no Michigan law that says every victim has to be physically checked by a paramedic before the paramedic leaves the scene. Also, there is not a law which says a paramedic must physically check a victim before pronouncing them dead.
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Critical Condition
An investigation into the deterioration of the quality of medical care in the Cincinnati area. Ten years ago, four of the city's biggest corporate giants--Proctor & Gamble, General Electric, Kroger and Cincinnati Bell--were looking to cut their insurance costs, so they made deals with local hospitals and doctors to accept much lower reimbursement rates or pay. What followed was an exodus of doctors, a difficulty in recruiting new doctors to the area, hospital closures and cutbacks, and long waits for appointments.
Tags: TAPE; TRANSCRIPT; medical care; health care; Cincinnati; Ohio; insurance costs; reimbursement rates; Proctor & Gamble; General Electric; Kroger and Cincinnati Bell; hospitals; doctors