How Columbia Ignored Women, Undermined Prosecutors and Protected a Predator For More Than 20 Years
ProPublica, September 2023
Also published in New York Magazine
The university’s own records show that women repeatedly tried to warn Columbia doctors and staff about Hadden. At least twice, the fact that Hadden’s bosses in the OB-GYN department knew of the women’s concerns was acknowledged in writing. They allowed him to continue practicing.
Broken Pelvises, Collapsed Lungs, and Decades of Winning: Barrel Racing's Martha Josey Has Seen It All
Texas Monthly, February 2021
Karnack’s “Queen of Sequins” brought style, success, and unprecedented longevity to her legendary rodeo career.
How Unproven Stem Cell Therapies Are Costing Desperate Patients – Texas Monthly
Texas Monthly, January 2020
So far, stem cell treatments have been demonstrated effective and approved to help tackle only certain blood disorders, including some cancers. All other uses remain unproven. Yet their experimental status has not impeded a boom in sales. According to one study, stem cell treatments now constitute a $2 billion global industry.
As Patients Struggle With Bills, Hospital Sues Thousands
New York Times, September 2019
An examination of court records by The New York Times found almost 3,000 lawsuits filed by Carlsbad Medical Center against patients over medical debt since 2015, more than 500 of them through August of this year alone. Few hospitals sue so many patients so often.
A Surgeon So Bad It Was Criminal
ProPublica, October 2018
It took more than six months and multiple catastrophic surgeries before anyone reported Duntsch to the state medical board. Then it took almost another year for the board to investigate, with Duntsch operating all the while.
The Parasite on the Playground
New York Times, January 2018
These infectious particles cling to the hands of children playing outside. Once swallowed, the eggs soon hatch, releasing larvae that wriggle through the body and, evidence suggests, may even reach the brain, compromising learning and cognition.
Creature from the Green Lagoon
Texas Monthly, September 2017
Caddo Lake is being consumed by the world’s most monstrous weed. Herbicides, kitchen strainers, and even blowtorches have failed to stop it. Now a local band of volunteers is making a last-ditch effort to save these treasured wetlands.
Are Supplements Safe?
Men’s Health, April 2017
More than 7,000 supplement companies are registered in the United States, and the list certainly includes long-established firms that are trying to do the right thing. But here's the problem: Scores of speculators have popped up, selling products with ingredients that are untested or illegal—or both.
Big Men on Campus
Texas Monthly, September 2016
Are all those three-hundred-pound high school football players a health crisis waiting to happen?
As concussions and traumatic brain injuries dominate the headlines, lost in the debate is a far more insidious, unrecognized threat: the consequences of obesity. Boys and young men must be ever larger for success on the field, but once their last game ends, many are left with a jumbo-sized body and eating habits that jeopardize their health.
Millions of Women Are Injured During Childbirth. Why Aren't Doctors Diagnosing Them?
Cosmopolitan, July 2016
Childbirth is one of nature’s most wondrous but biologically brutal feats. For nine months, a woman’s muscles and bones bear the increasing weight of a baby that isn’t even slightly ergonomically positioned. During a vaginal birth, muscles and other tissues stretch and often tear as something the size of a cantaloupe is forced through an opening that is normally about the size of a carrot. According to a recent spate of studies, a disturbing number of women quietly endure incontinence, painful sex, back aches, and crippling pelvic pain for years after giving birth because of undiagnosed and untreated childbirth injuries.
Carotid Artery Surgery: Could It Give You a Stroke?
Reader’s Digest, April 2016
Clearing a clogged carotid artery could be a solution in search of a problem. During or after a procedure, bits of plaque may break free and lodge in the small vessels of the brain, triggering the stroke you’re trying to stop.
Gum Disease Opens the Body Up to a Host of Infections
Science News, April 2016
The work has profound implications for public health, given that more than 65 million American adults are thought to have periodontal disease, which occurs when bacterial overgrowth inflames the gums and can lead to erosion of gums and bone. If it turns out that periodontal decay drives other diseases, doctors would have a new, and relatively simple, means of prevention.
The Good News If You're Terrified of Getting a Colonoscopy
O Magazine, March 2016
Rare is the doctor who doesn't wholeheartedly believe that colonoscopy is the best means of early detection. But there are a few out there, including no less an expert than Richard Wender, MD, chief cancer control officer at the American Cancer Society.
Mom’s weight during pregnancy shapes baby’s health
Science News, January 2016
As the risks of obesity during pregnancy emerge, researchers hope more young women on the verge of starting families see the importance of maintaining a healthy life—and that the culture around them will support efforts to do so.
Does Your Period Have to Be This Bad?
Cosmopolitan, December 2015
As many as 30 percent of gynecological patients overall are suffering severe, recurring period pain, according to a study released in August. And when symptoms are treated, the standard advice has changed little in three decades. It is one of the most significant health problems for which there is almost no public discussion and little research.
Error: What's Wrong With Robotic Surgery
Men’s Health, May 2014
It does sound promising: precision machines displacing fallible human beings, operating in the most sensitive areas. But a growing number of practitioners worry that the robot revolution came before the advantages were proven, and that marketing, not medicine, has led the charge. Others question whether the astronomical price of these robots (ultimately added to your rising insurance premium) justifies their uncertain benefits in an era of runaway health costs.
Who Killed Chris Kyle?
Men’s Health, December 2013
The deadliest sniper in U.S. military history was gunned down at point-blank range, apparently by a troubled soldier he was trying to help. A broken VA medical system may have been an unwitting accomplice.