David Pittman's Blog

Do we ever say goodbye to people?

2010-04-26T15:21:00.000-07:00

It’s almost cliché to say the world is more interconnected today than ever.
But it’s true.

With social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter and many folks just a short text message away, it’s easy to maintain a friendship with a person halfway across the country.
So as I say goodbye to friends, colleagues and all others in Amarillo, it’s comforting to remember I can easily keep in touch with everyone I want to.
Today was my last day as staff writer for the Amarillo Globe-News.

I worked at this newspaper for nearly 3½ years covering health, higher education, cops, courts, business and many general assignments thrown my way.

I worked with some great people and learned and grew a tremendous amount along the way. I am proud of numerous stories I’ve covered and broken as a journalist.

This was my first job out of college. I moved to the Texas Panhandle three weeks after graduating from the University of Georgia to take what I thought was a great opportunity to launch myself.

I wasn’t disappointed.

But it’s time for something different. I’m seeking a more stable industry to try to advance my career.

I start next Monday writing for Chemical & Engineering News, the member publication of the American Chemical Society.

I want to apply my chemistry education to jump into the world of science writing. W ashington D.C., where I’ll move later this week, is a Mecca for journalist. It’s time for me to travel to the Holy Land.

I won’t miss the Panhandle winds. I will miss lunch at Sharky’s.
I won’t miss dealing with hospital spokeswomen. I will miss seeing the television news report the same story I broke in that morning’s newspaper.

Thank you to all the kind and generous people I’ve meet.
And remember, if e-mail is too antiquated for you, there’s always Facebook and texting.

Who to point to for health-care reform?

2010-03-09T08:02:00.000-08:00

I was listening to the radio on my drive home yesterday evening and heard an interesting sound bite while the dial was turned to the local National Public Radio station.
It was President Obama talking somewhere about his health reform bill. The president made a statement in reaction to Republican complaints about his bill.
“You had 10 years to do something,” Obama spoke of Republicans to the crowd.
Say what you want about Obama and the Democrats’ proposal to overhaul the health care and insurance industries in this country, but President George W. Bush and Republicans were in office for long enough to have acted if they wanted to.
Unless Congress acts before April 1, payments to doctors for treating Medicare patients will drop by more than 21 percent. The argument from doctors is they will stop seeing Medicare patients because they will spend more money treating them than they get reimbursed.
But Congress has done nothing but delay cuts in physician payments for more than 10 years. That dates back to the Bush administration and a Republican-controlled Congress.
Reader comments from my story today want to blame Obama for the Democrats plan for the potential ruin of health care.
If health care in this country goes to Hell in a hand basket, you shouldn’t blame Obama-care and Democrats. Sitting on your hands and doing nothing is just as bad taking action and messing up.

Alabama men meet in Texas

2010-02-25T08:29:00.000-08:00

I ran across the above picture in Tuesday's Globe-News for a story on the groundbreaking of the $21 million athletic complex at West Texas A&M. Pictured are Texas A&M regent Gene Stallings (left) and WT President J. Patrick O'Brien looking at plans for the project.
One interesting note many may not know:
Stallings is a former head football coach at the University of Alabama and helped the Crimson Tide win a national championship in 1992.
O'Brien is a proud alumnus of Auburn University, ‘Bama's archrival.
Stallings is a Texas native and played football at Texas A&M under legendary coach Paul "Bear" Bryant.
As a southern football enthusiast, I find it interesting when two people from a heated rivalry cross paths even when it has nothing to do with the schools.

Bell could be back in old post

2010-02-24T08:30:00.000-08:00

Texas Tech physician Todd Bell drew much praise and support during his 10-month tenure as health authority for Potter and Randall counties.
His resignation, which came amid an investigation of a Stratford nurse practitioner he oversaw, was as a surprise to many around him. It was a sign of weakness from a highly-regarded man.
However, Bell’s replace to the post, Dr. Roger Smalligan said after his appointment from the Amarillo Bi-City-County Public Health District board last night that Bell could return as health authority.
“I would not want to rule that out,” Smalligan said. “It was just an unfortunate situation that happened from someone so far away abusing the supervisory position.”
The nurse practitioner in question, Ward Palmer, drank on the job and inappropriately prescribed narcotics, according to the Texas Board of Nursing. He has resigned his nursing license.
Charges have not been filed in the case and Bell is not the subject of any investigation.
Those who know Bell have nothing but positive things to say about him.
Bell has kept his duties with the Texas Tech School of Medicine in Amarillo, but also gave up his license to issue certain controlled substances as well as his health authority position on Nov. 23.
I analyze Smalligan’s comments from last night as saying Bell gave up some of his responsibilities to save face and could return once the legal cloud over Stratford settles.
Regional School of Medicine Dean Richard Jordan called Smalligan an “emergency replacement” for Bell.
No one has expressly said Bell will return as health authority, but Smalligan is at least hinting such a thing may occur.

‘The news can’t be bought’

2010-02-23T12:42:00.000-08:00

Late last week, I pursued a story on an Amarillo doctor who was disciplined by the Texas Medical Board for killing a patient in November 2007.
The doctor, Naeem Khan, now owns Amarillo Urgent Care, a regular advertiser with the Globe-News.
Shortly after I called the clinic to seek comment from Khan for the story, his office administrator called me back to ask a series of questions of me, my reporting and my story.
The woman ended up speaking with one of my editors. That editor spoke with me shortly after getting off the phone with the administrator.
My editor told me to refer all their further calls to her.
Apparently, the administrator reminded my editor that Amarillo Urgent Care spends a lot of money advertising with us.
“Well, the news can’t be bought,” my editor said, relaying her comments to me.
We printed the story on Khan's medical board discipline Friday and a follow up today on his settling a malpractice lawsuit with the family earlier this year.

News organizations – at least those with integrity – don’t allow its organizations advertising dollars or potential advertising dollars influence its news coverage.

Bush received $10,000 for her appearance

2010-02-09T09:10:00.001-08:00

Texas Tech paid Jenna Bush Hager $10,000 for her appearance in Amarillo Friday at a fundraiser for the women’s health institute named after her mother, the school said this week.
The Laura W. Bush Institute for Women’s Health held the $75-per-plate luncheon last week to generate money for its InfantRisk Center, a nationwide call center for pregnant and nursing mothers who seek information on how medication may impact their children or nursing. The event raised more than $150,000 for the cause, organizers said.
For Hager’s $10,000 fee, Bush spoke for nearly 15 minutes mostly on the topic of education and left the Amarillo Civic Center Grand Plaza immediately after finishing her speech at the podium.
Dr. Marjorie Jenkins, executive director of the Bush institute, said the entire event was underwritten by sponsors and money from the more than 700 attendees.
“I think it’s good for the area to bring in national speakers,” Jenkins said Monday.
Bush’s fee wasn’t included in last week's story. Jenkins avoided answering the question of Hager’s payment (but answered others on the event) in an e-mail and voice mail late Friday.

Another note of updating info from a story:
Gray County ended up spending $885,000 to bring capital murder charges against Levi King to trial, according to County Auditor Elaine Morris.
King pleaded guilty last year to the shooting deaths of three Pampa residents in September 2005. Lynn Switzer, 31st District attorney, wanted to pursue the death penalty against King despite his already serving a life sentence in Missouri. A Lubbock jury sentenced King to life without parole.
I wrote a story a couple of weeks ago on the difficulty of pursuing the death penalty.
I was unable to get a final tally for the King trial because heavy snow closed county offices that Thursday and Friday. The county auditor was not in the office before my deadline passed.

You love me. You really love me.

2010-02-03T15:39:00.000-08:00

Or at least there are signs that some of folks actually read my postings.
I was having doubts for a while.
I can count the number of comments on one hand and have two followers to date. (One is a Globe-News editor.)
But I’ve had indications recently that at least a few readers are paying attention.
I’ve received comments on Twitter and wall posts on Facebook about what I’ve written in recent weeks.
The weekend before last, a reader pointed out specific posts and reminded me I needed to write more entries.
A couple of weeks ago, a friend of mine who works at Northwest Texas Hospital told me an entry I wrote concerning the emergency room circulated the hospital.
I made a New Year’s Resolution to provide more updates with my blog. Whether or not I’ve done that, it’s nice to know that at least of you out there are paying attention to or reading some of my dribble.

In a foul mood for no reason

2010-02-01T07:46:00.000-08:00

A colleague of mine rightly pointed out midday Friday I was in a bad mood.
I’m not a great fan of 10-plus inches of snow falling in one day.
Also making me grumpy late last week, my car was stuck in a snow drift on South Van Buren Street outside the newspaper’s offices. I was sans car for more than a day, needed a ride home from work Thursday and a lift to work Friday morning. But a series of events around the end of my workday Friday made me realize I wasn’t seeing the goodness in people.
First, several members of the sports staff at the Amarillo Globe-News helped push my car out of the snow dirt Friday afternoon.
I managed to make it home safely, only to get stuck in more snow in the gutter of my driveway.
About that time, two men stopped the Jeep they were driving, got out with two shovels and started to move the snow from around my stuck car. They didn’t even ask if they could help. They just started to shovel.
Venturing out this weekend, I saw a number of examples of people stopping to help others stuck in the snow.
That colleague was right Friday.
I shouldn’t have been in a bad mood. I should have been kind to others the way they were to me.

Outcome of Amarillo-related Botox trial should be interesting

2010-01-26T08:54:00.000-08:00

People sometimes cry when I interview them.
I’m not proud to say that either.
Maybe their crying is a product of the story they’re telling. Maybe it’s a product of me and my harsh questions. I don’t know.
One such case of a mother crying came during an interview from July 2008.
Mother Dee Spears of Amarillo had lost her 7-year-old daughter less than a year before. She and several other families had filed a lawsuit against the makers of Botox, Irving, Calif.-based Allergan, for causing the death of her daughter. I was asking about the lawsuit and her daughter.
Daughter Kristen Spears suffered from cerebral palsy and began receiving Botox injections in June 2006 to treat her limb spasms, according to the lawsuit filed in Orange County Superior Court in California.
After a series of injections, the child developed pneumonia, her seizures worsened and she developed muscle weakness in her neck that prevented her from holding up her head, according to the suit. She died Nov. 24, 2007.
Jury selection began today in California in the trial of Spears and Allergan.
It’s curious that Allergan didn’t settle the case already.
The pharmaceutical giant profited $3.5 billion in 2008. Its revenue exceeded $4.4 billion. That’s a lot of dough.
Usually the cost of litigation exceeds whatever of a settlement, and defendants rather cut a check than stand trial.
Allergan probably thinks it can win a case against Spears.
The trial may take a few weeks, but we’ll see what the outcome is.

January stinks if you want to find an open treadmill at the gym

2010-01-21T08:32:00.001-08:00

You know it’s that time of year when you walk into the gym and can’t find an open treadmill.
You wander the free weight area struggling not to bump into somebody.
It’s January and the season of New Year’s Resolutions.
As a year-round gym goer, I hate it.
Trips to the gym become hellish as crowds of people who don’t typically frequent gyms on Wednesday nights hit the exercise equipment.
Why do people do this? Don’t they realize they’re missing American Idol?
Last night, there were several people at my gym waiting, unable to find a treadmill as I and other used them to run or walk.
I was lucky to have spotted an open treadmill right as I walked in about 7 p.m. But if I were having to wait, I’d be pissed.
I go to the gym three or four times a week year round. The only month of the year it’s over crowded is January.
Gym crowds always seem worse this month than any other of the year. Coincidently, no one goes in December.
In talks with Amarillo-area gym owners and managers, they say they don’t receive a rush of applications in January.
Seems different from my perspective.
I can’t complain too much. At least people are getting themselves healthy.

Shouldn't more be done to fix Potter County's problem?

2010-01-18T08:11:00.000-08:00

I reported in Sunday’s newspaper that new HIV cases in Potter and Randall counties continue to be a high levels, and that is concerning local public health officials and AIDS advocates.
In Potter County, infection rates for Chlamydia and gonorrhea increased last year, according to provisional 2009 data the Amarillo Public Health Department released last week. Potter County already reported the second highest infection rate in the state in 2008 for those diseases.
Teen Pregnancy still continues to trouble those working to curb the incidence of that.
However, no one I’ve spoken with in my three years as health reporter for this newspaper seems to offer a decent or different way to reduce the prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases and teen pregnancy in Amarillo.
I may be wrong, but I don’t recall from my reporting much change in or alternate thinking from the powers that be in trying to tackle this public health issue. Should there be more?
The Amarillo Public Health Department can’t change their tactics per strings attached to their state and government funding. Nonprofit activists’ hands are tied because of limited funds. The Bi-City-County Health Board, which meets quarterly, doesn’t do anything besides listen to reports from city staff members.
In Lubbock, public health officials are dealing with the same problems as counterparts in Amarillo; lack of funding. Two vital health positions were cut from the city budget last year.
My question still stands.
Should more be done about these troublesome rates?
Should the general public be more concerned that Amarillo sits near or at the top of dubious state rankings for STDs and teen pregnancy? If so, shouldn’t they demand more be done from those in charge?

No date set for 15-year-old girl charged with capital murder

2010-01-12T08:18:00.000-08:00

No hearing date has been set for a judge to rule whether a 15-year-old Amarillo girl should be tried for capital murder as an adult.
The girl was charged with capital murder mere days after her newborn son was found dead in her Southwest Amarillo home.
Potter County Attorney Scott Brumley, whose office is handling the case for now, wasn’t free to return my calls yesterday to get an update on the case.
The case is still being handled as a juvenile till a Potter County judge determines otherwise. Brumley’s office was waiting for a physiological evaluation to see if prosecutors wanted to pursue the case as an adult.
He said Tuesday morning that prosecutors are waiting to hear from the girl’s attorneys to see if she will plead guilty or not.
Brumley said, if her lawyers are interested in a trial, his office will further pursue a hearing to certify her as an adult.
The girl, whose name has not been released, is not eligible for the death penalty despite being charged with capital murder.

Fallen teen taken to Oklahoma

2010-01-11T15:56:00.001-08:00

The Booker teenager who fell more than 40 feet at an Indianapolis mall in October was expected to be transported to an Oklahoma City children’s hospital today, his father said last week.
Philip Caler, a 16-year-old sophomore at Booker High School, fell 41 feet from a mall escalator Oct. 22 while visiting the FFA national convention in Indianapolis. Caler had spent the past two months at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis.
Caler, who is still in a coma, was moved to Triumph Hospital in Amarillo Dec. 23 after nearly two months in Indianapolis. His family decided to move him to Oklahoma City to give him more specialized care.
Father Gary Caler said his son is still making progress and the additional move this week didn’t mean his condition was worsening. In fact, Philip is showing better response to stimuli and is opening his eyes more and more.
Philip suffered a litany of injuries including breaking six vertebrae in the fall that had him ricochet off the second-story railing.

Former ER doctor's words speak volumes

2010-01-08T08:14:00.001-08:00

I finished reporting and writing a story yesterday on a new health clinic that opened this week in downtown Amarillo on the campus of Park Central Retirement Community.
It is a staffed by a former emergency room doctor at Northwest Texas Hospital, Dr. John Turner, whom I spoke with for the story.
He didn’t offer many kind words to his former employer.
Turner came to Amarillo and Northwest through EmCare, a Dallas-based company that works to staff emergency departments for hospitals. Northwest turned to EmCare after its group of ER doctors bolted for Baptist St. Anthony’s Hospital.
The move ruffled the feathers of Northwest brass and caused a stir in how Northwest staffs and runs its emergency room.
“They’re still dealing with their turmoil there,” Turner said very frankly.
Turner added physicians were promised things upon their arrival to Northwest that haven’t happened.
He said Northwest Chief Executive Kyle Sanders, who took control of the hospital this summer, has pinpointed Northwest’s ER as an area of improvement. Turner said Sanders has targeted certain ER doctors trying to force the physician’s hand.
“I was happy to leave,” Turner said.
Turner’s words point to at least one focus area for new Northwest boss Sanders; emergency care.
Sanders has also succeeded in ridding the hospital of an ambulance provider in his short tenure.
But if what Turner says is true, then Northwest is still feeling the effects of a move from its chief rival made nearly two years ago.

Resolutions: 2010

2010-01-04T10:05:00.000-08:00

I’m not big on New Year’s Resolutions.
Never have been.
But I want to make one this year: more regularly update this blog.
I started it in June as a way to post off-beat, under-the-radar or side stories that can’t make it into our print product.
I was good at providing updates through most of September but stopped around then. I’ve updated it twice in the last three months.
I was temporally assigned to cover police- and crime-related stories in mid September. Those assignments took a great deal of time and my blog slipped by the way side.
I am back to covering health care and medicine along with court matters, a new beat for me.
Globe-News staffers aren’t required to keep blogs, but I wanted to as a way to more fully serve readers.
It is my goal to pay more time to this blog in 2010.
If I don’t, feel free to yell at me for not.

Settlement numbers come to light

2009-12-31T14:10:00.000-08:00

It’s not everyday that the news media is able to print settlements of civil lawsuits.
Today, we were able to do that.
A federal judge approved the settlement between Ford Motor Co. and the family of former Amarillo police Officer Mark Simmons.
Simmons died while riding as a passenger in an unmarked Crown Victoria patrol car in March 2005. A pickup ran into the back of Simmons’ car and his seat anchor failed, Simmons’ family claimed in its lawsuit.
The case’s settlement needed to be approved by a judge before becoming final. In most settlements, attorneys inform the court an agreement has been reached, and the matter is dropped.
But in the Simmons matter, the parties attended a hearing in open federal court before U.S. District Judge Mary Lou Robinson.
Marshall attorney Carl Roth, who represented the Simmons family, tried to tell Robinson the parties wanted to keep the settlement confidential. He know the only person sitting in the court was a newspaper reporter.
“That’s not the policy of this court, counselor,” Robinson would quip back.
Instead, the family’s attorney laid out all the numbers of the settlement in open court; how much Ford Motor Co. would pay and how much the worker’s compensation company and family would receive.
In full disclosure, a report filed in with the court this week also revealed the settlement terms and stated in greater detail the payments to be made to Simmons’ two daughters, ages 7 and 8.
Where this may be a settlement of a lawsuit between a private company and a family, this is a fine example of journalists working to keep information in public view.

Story sparks words from interviewee

2009-11-11T08:02:00.000-08:00

I was verbally assaulted covering a story yesterday.
Just before 5 p.m. yesterday, a photographer and I responded to calls of a plane emergency landing north of Amarillo.
We drove to the intersection of Broadway Road and Loop 335 to see a single-engine, fixed-wing plane resting in the middle of the road – not a sight you see everyday.
The two men flying the plane emergency landed on Broadway after experiencing trouble with the aircraft's fuel line.
After about an hour of questioning from Potter County Sheriff’s deputies and Department of Public Safety troopers, the plane used Broadway to gear up for its takeoff.
I, sadly, didn’t have a change to fully interview either one of the men in the plane. I was interrupted twice by DPS troopers.
Needing more information for today’s story, I returned to the newsroom and looked up the plane on the Federal Aviation Administration’s Web site. I had written down the plane’s N-number, similar to a car's lisence plate number, while on scene.
The FAA listed Pat Stewart of Collinsville, Okla. as the owner. I looked him up online and called.

Stewart told me he had sold the plane that day to one of the two men who was flying back to Palm Springs, Calif.
After I told Stewart that no one was injured and the plane had taken off safely, he question why I was interested in the story and got angry I was questioning him about his plane. He – in a not so polite manner – asked me to not bother reaching one of the gentleman’s home in California.
“Don’t try calling his home in Palm Springs. If you do, I’ll come to Amarillo and kick your ass.” Click. He hung up the phone on me.
In my few years of reporting, I have had people get mad at me. But no one has threatened to beat me up like Mr. Stewart did.

Funny story I wanted to pass along

2009-09-30T15:59:00.001-07:00

Two nurse friends of mine at Baptist St. Anthony’s Hospital were surfing the Internet early Saturday morning to catch the latest news on their boss, former Chief Executive John Hicks, who had suddenly left the hospital the day before.
A security guard, I’m told, approached the nurses and told them to leave the Web site of the Amarillo Globe-News, Amarillo.com.
The security guard had received orders to enforce the rule. The reader comments on the site were “too negative,” the nurses remembered being told.

Silence speaks volumes

2009-09-29T16:11:00.000-07:00

A gentle voice answered the phone at Bob Schneider’s Wolflin home Monday night.
“He’s not home right now,” the woman answered when I asked for Bob, the chairman of the board of trustees for Baptist St. Anthony’s Health System.
As I left a message with her, I explained I was a reporter for the Globe-News and was hoping to speak with him for a story I'm pursing on BSA.
“I’m not sure he wants to do that,” she said, her naive honesty seeping through the phone.
Her words didn’t surprise me. I didn’t expect to hear from or speak to Schneider when I called. I believed trying to reach him at his home was important needing to give him an opportunity to speak.
Schneider, like every other board member or person direct knowledge regarding the recent leaving of BSA Chief Executive John Hicks, is as tight lipped as ever.
There are not many people who know first hand what happened to Hicks. While anybody can speculate or try to inquire on their own, only these few people will know why Hicks suddenly left after 13 years at BSA’s helm.
There was no indication this was coming for the man previously believed to be extremely secure in his job.
Schneider and every other board member, none have ever returned a call concerning any story, have every right to maintain silence on what boils down to a personnel matter.
But this is different. Hicks was not a rank-and-file nurse or staffer. He was the longtime chief with an annual compensation of roughly $1 million.
BSA is one of the largest employers in Amarillo and the largest hospital in nearly 120 miles. The leadership of BSA sets policy that impacts the health care of an entire region. When that leadership changes, questions should be answered.
Why? Why did Hicks leave? Was he really fired? If so, for what reason or reasons?
The first and only time I ever reached Schneider via phone it was nearly two years ago. He hung up on me.
“We have a spokeswoman to answer your questions,” he said referring to BSA spokeswoman Mary Barlow.
Click. He ended the conversation right then with no chance for me to explain myself.
Hicks’ leaving BSA is one of the biggest stories to come out of Amarillo’s medical community in recent months.
The public may never find answers to its questions if the philosophy of the board’s current leadership doesn’t change.

Baptist executive in Amarillo says he wasn't involved in hospital CEO's leaving

2009-09-28T17:43:00.000-07:00

The chief executive of Baptist Community Services on Monday denied any notion of his involvement in the ousting of John Hicks, chief executive of Baptist St. Anthony’s Health System who suddenly left the hospital system last week with no reason given.
“If you asked me why he left, I could not tell you,” said Tim Holloway, who was CEO of High Plains Baptist Hospital from 1977 to 1996. “There was a wall built, and I asked for it.”
The board of Baptist Community Services, which owns half of BSA, appoints half of the 12-member BSA board of trustees. Catholic partner Christus Health, which owns the other half of the hospital system, also appoints six board members.
It was a meeting between Hicks and the executive committee of the BSA board, made of three BCS and three Christus appointees, that resulted in Hicks’ leaving. Neither Hicks, the hospital nor its board stated a reason for the separation.
Hicks was named BSA CEO after the 1996 merger of High Plains Baptist and St. Anthony’s hospitals.
Holloway said Monday he removed himself from discussions involving an important BSA matter when it came up a couple of weeks ago.
“It was suggested that I not be involved in any conversations involving BSA, and I agreed with that,” Holloway said. “When somebody said that, I said ‘Fine. That suits me.'"
Holloway said he couldn’t recall who pitched the suggestion or when exactly it came.
“I have no, nada, zero input into the operations of that organization,” Holloway said of BSA.
The issue Holloway referred to, which eventually led to Hicks’ leaving, involved closed-door meetings and phone calls from BCS Senior Vice President Steve Dalrymple. Dalrymple sits on the six-member executive committee that met with Hicks.
Holloway also said the failed sale of its half of BSA to its Catholic partner last year now means nothing to the BCS board who appoints the BSA board that hires and fires the hospital chief.
BCS pitched the idea of selling its 50 percent stake in the hospital system to Christus. BCS withdrew the offer late last year after widespread backlash against the sale.
“It is a dead issue, capital D-E-A-D,” he said of the possible sale.
Holloway said Hicks, who was outspokenly against the sale of the hospital, was just doing what he thought was best for BSA.
“I wasn’t his best friend. He wasn’t my best friend, but if I saw him today, I would shake his hand,” Holloway said. “People are trying to make something out of this.”

The answer may not be so simple

2009-09-27T17:47:00.000-07:00

Why was John Hicks fired?
It’s been the million-dollar question all weekend from people I’ve spoken with.
The question makes the assumption that Hicks was fired and didn’t spontaneously resign after 13 years on the job.
It is still a burning question and a relevant one until someone in the know answers it directly.
I’ve heard almost a different answer from each person who dares offer one.
Hicks fraternized with female employees.
He won’t take a pay cut.
They’ve lost big contracts recently.
BSA was too frivolous with spending.
Public reaction to executive salaries was too negative after multiple rounds of lay offs.
Hicks’ relationship with the board turned sour after the failed attempt by Baptist Community Services to sale its half to its Catholic partner.
Charges on antitrust violations are coming from the state and the board wants to save face now.
The list goes on.
Here is my question to those who care to answer: Why can’t it be several of those things?
People keep asking for the one answer. Maybe it is listed above and maybe not.
But after nearly 14 years at the helm of the hospital, an eternity for an executive, why not say board members wanted a change in leadership while BSA continues to lose market share to Northwest Texas Healthcare System?
Until more information comes forth or until someone on BSA’s board of trustees speaks publicly, we may never know.
Rather than searching for one simple, clear-cut answer, why can’t the reason for Hicks’ leaving be a series of issues over time led to the board wanting to make a change?

Get your flu shot now

2009-09-08T14:56:00.000-07:00

State health officials are encouraging people not to wait to get the seasonal flu shot as it becomes available and the virus begins to sweep across the state. The state health department had this to say late last week:

The Texas Department of State Health Services is encouraging people to get their seasonal flu vaccination now.
“Don’t wait. Get your seasonal flu vaccination now,” said Dr. David Lakey, DSHS Commissioner. “It’s one of the best ways to protect yourself and others from seasonal flu.”
Seasonal flu vaccine, available in shot and nasal spray forms, is recommended for people ages 6 months and older. The shot takes about two weeks to become effective. A separate 2009 H1N1 flu vaccine is not expected until mid-October.
“Get the seasonal flu vaccine now. Then, be prepared get the 2009 H1N1 flu vaccine later. One vaccine isn’t a substitute for the other,” Lakey said.
People at high risk of having serious flu complications are especially encouraged to get their seasonal flu shot as soon as possible. This includes children ages 6 months through 18 years, those 50 and older, people with chronic medical conditions, residents of long-term care facilities and pregnant women. People who have close contact with those at high risk also should get vaccinated.
People wanting the seasonal flu vaccine should call their health care provider, local public health department, 2-1-1 or check online at www.211Texas.org for availability.

Lakey also urged people to follow standard illness-prevention steps:
Wash hands frequently with soap and water or alcohol-based hand sanitizer;
Cover coughs and sneezes;
Stay home if sick.

For more information about flu in Texas, visit DSHS’ www.TexasFlu.org.

Welcome to the Fall 2009 Semester at WTAMU

2009-09-01T13:49:00.000-07:00

They didn't do this kind of thing where I went to school. This is really odd and random and I wanted to share it.

Credit card fees at AC

2009-08-31T09:51:00.000-07:00

Keep this in mind the next time you use a credit card on Amarillo College’s campus.
AC spends nearly $150,000 on banking fees a year. That’s no chunk change.
The fees are assessed by the banks to the college each time a credit or debit card transaction is made.
The school last week passed its $51 million budget, including a 15 percent increase for credit card fees payments.

Local biotech company staying put

2009-08-28T11:52:00.000-07:00

I have written a fair number of pieces in my time on Amarillo Biosciences, a biotechnology firm that develops drug therapies for various illnesses.
My most recent news concerned them striking an incentive deal with Junction City, Kan. to relocate there.
Turns out, the deal, which could have netted the company as much as $5 million, fell through.
Amarillo Biosciences is developing Interferon, an antiviral protein naturally produced in the body. The drug has shown promise in treating oral warts in HIV-positive patients, chronic cough, the flu, and Hepatitis B and C.
I’ve been trying for more than a month to get a hold of the company’s chief executive and founder, Dr. Joe Cummins, to talk about their next move now that the one in Kansas is dead. No matter how many voice mails I leave or the number of e-mails I send, I only receive short e-mailed replies saying Cummins is traveling and too busy to talk.
The most recent e-mail he sent read: “I spent 3 weeks in San Antonio and must fly to Omaha for 3 weeks tomorrow. We remain in limbo on relocation. Joe”
Amarillo Bioscience’s contract with Junction City had been approved by all the necessary boards in Kansas. However, Amarillo Biosciences requested changes that negated the contract nearly two months after Junction City approved it, said Jeffrey Black, executive director of Economic Development for Junction City.
Now the company, searching for money in a tough economy, is seeking another deal elsewhere.
As the national economy has tanked, money available for research dried up, and brokering incentives to move is a good way to raise money.
I need to interview Cummins before a story is printed. However, I will keep trying to get him.

Ripken to speak in Amarillo

2009-08-26T07:42:00.000-07:00

Baseball Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. will come to Amarillo February 9, 2010 for Amarillo College’s Distinguished Lecture Series.

Proceeds from ticket sales benefit scholarships for AC students. Each lecture typically raises $5,000 to $10,000 in scholarship money.
The series started in 1987 and has attracted speakers such as Barbara Bush, James Earl Jones, Oliver Stone and Dan Quayle. “America’s Most Wanted” host John Walsh spoke last year to a crowd of about 600.
This year’s speaker was announced at Tuesday night’s board of regents meeting. Information on ticket sales hasn’t been set.

Ripken, dubbed baseball’s Iron Man for his 2,632 consecutive games played streak, was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2007. He was an All-Star for 19 of his 20 seasons and won two Most Valuable Player awards.

ANALYSIS: What Northwest's leaving may mean for the future of HRMCI

2009-08-20T08:22:00.000-07:00

The dispute between the Amarillo Area Foundation and the Harrington Regional Medical Center Inc. recently receiving great attention can be a bit hard to understand.
To summarize the issue, the AAF wants to take control of HRMCI’s land, money and authority after the medical center has decided to sale some of its undeveloped land. This was land donated to it when the medical center was created.
The AAF, who once controlled the medical center before creating HRMCI in the 1980s, is upset the group hasn’t donated the land to qualified nonprofit health providers and educational centers.
Wednesday afternoon brought significant news; Northwest Texas Healthcare System withdrew its HRMCI membership effective immediately.
When initial news broke last week that Baptist St. Anthony’s Health System withdrew from HRMCI, the medical center wrote it off as BSA thumbing its nose at the rest of town.
When the AAF wrote a harsh piece this week criticizing the HRMCI’s leadership and land deals, HRMCI wrote it off as a political gesture.
When Northwest announced Wednesday it would leave the group, HRMCI leaders were silent. The hospital said it backed the AAF in its efforts.
Northwest’s leaving proves the displeasures with HRMCI are more widespread. This is more than just political bickering of one hospital or outside organization.
The two largest hospitals in Amarillo have now left greatly hurting any future influence of the medical center.
It figures HRMCI now has to do something.

If members - powerful members - continue to leave, the medical center will have no members left and could essentially disappear. It may have no choice but to hand itself over to the AAF.
The medical center’s leaders say they will release a statement in the near future. We’ll see what they have to say.

Land dispute years in the making

2009-08-19T07:58:00.001-07:00

I wrote this for this piece for the story in today’s paper on the whole Harrington Regional Medical Center-Amarillo Area Foundation dispute:

The issue of selling/donating land dates back to at least the early 1990s when High Plains Baptist Hospital, now called Baptist St. Anthony's Hospital, sought to buy the land along Wallace Boulevard across from itself and the Harrington Cancer Center.
“We couldn’t negotiate a price that was acceptable to us as best as I could remember,” said Steve Dalrymple, then senior vice president and general counsel for High Plains Baptist Hospital.
High Plains was looking for additional parking space, he said, but instead the hospital expanded its existing employee lot.
Steve Gens, president of the Harrington Regional Medical Center, remembered a different scenario. The hospital was looking for the land to be donated, but Gens said High Plains Baptist wouldn’t disclose how it would use it.
Later, High Plains would withdraw from the medical center, “but it was for a number of reasons, not just this land deal,” Dalrymple said. “We were looking to save some money,”
When High Plains merged with St. Anthony’s Hospital in the middle of last decade, BSA joined the organization only to withdraw last week.
“I think it’s been an ongoing issue since the medical center organization has chosen to sell property,” Dalrymple said. “I know some organizations had trouble with that.”

City-county health board has problems with attendance

2009-08-14T08:50:00.000-07:00

The Amarillo Bi-City County Board of Health held its quarterly meeting this week and one board member was noticeably absent.
Actually, it wasn’t too noticeable since he hardly ever attends meetings.
Dr. J. Taylor Carlisle has only attended 26 of the 73 board meetings since his appointment, according to the minutes from the latest meeting. The physician at the Amarillo Diagnostic Clinic barely attends one in three meetings.
What’s the point?
To be fair to Carlisle, the board rarely votes on matters. It listens to city staff members of five departments (public health, environmental health, the health authority, animal control and the city’s office of Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children – better known as the WIC Program) give updates on city business.
The seven-member board sometimes has trouble drawing a quorum of four.
The Potter County Commissioners Court appoints two of the board’s members. Carlisle is one.
Randall County and the city of Amarillo each point two. The city of Canyon appoints one.
I’ve attended nearly 10 of these meetings since coming to Amarillo, probably more than Carlisle and most members in that time.
This board serves little function to city and county operations in Amarillo. It’s mainly a formality.
However, it could provide more oversight of five very important city departments. But how is that possible when members like Carlisle don’t care enough to attend formal meetings once every three months?

cancer deaths rates dropping

2009-08-13T14:09:00.000-07:00

The rate of cancer deaths in the country has steadily declined in the last three decades, according to a recent report in Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.
Texas has seen a similar decline.
According to the Texas Cancer Registry, the statewide age-adjusted cancer death rate has slowly declined from 1990 to 2006, the most recent year numbers are available.
It dropped from 211 deaths per 100,000 in 1990 to 175.1 deaths per 100,000 in 2006.
That’s a 20 percent drop in the 17-year span.
In the 26 counties of the Panhandle, the decline has been less noticeable, according to the Texas Cancer Registry.
The rate dropped from 198.5 deaths per 100,000 in 1990 to 188.8 deaths per 100,000 in 2006. That’s a decline of 5 percent.
The Cancer Research journal also found younger people have experienced the biggest decline in deaths.
The World Health Organization expects the cancer death rate will surpass that of heart disease by 2010. While both rates have been declining recently, heart disease rates have been declining more rapidly.
While cancer incidence rates continue to grow, the mortality rate has decreased.

No town hall meeting in Amarillo

2009-08-12T15:17:00.000-07:00

U.S. Rep. Mac Thornberry will not host any town hall meetings on health care form, his office said Wednesday.

He does plan a number of speeches, meetings and appearances during Congress’ August recess.

Thornberry will meet with the Amarillo Chamber of Commerce on Aug. 24, his office said. He will also appear at the Lions Club in Pampa and at the Farm Bureau in Dumas later this month.

“Naturally the hosting group sets the invitation list or rules, but I expect they are pretty open,” spokesman George Rasley said.

Some members of Congress have hosted town hall meetings to gauge public feelings on President Barack Obama’s health care package.

Many have gained attention for inciting heated debate amongst those in attendance.

Bell: Swine flu not expected to be "catastrophic" this fall

2009-08-12T08:20:00.000-07:00

Assuming the severity of the H1N1 virus doesn't change in the next few months, Amarilloans should not fear a deadly outbreak of the virus this fall, the area's top health official said Tuesday.

“I don’t think it’s going to be catastrophic,” said Dr. Todd Bell, public health authority for Potter and Randall counties. “I think this is basically going to boil down to a busy flu season.”

Bell gave those comments late Tuesday at meeting of the Amarillo Bi-City-County Health District Board.

He said the flu season, which lasts from October to March and peaks in Texas around February, may start a bit earlier this year because of the virus commonly referred to as swine flu.

“I would not be surprised if the health-care system is stressed or strained,” Bell said.

Amarillo had just one confirmed case of the H1N1 virus through July, when state and national health officials stopping tracking individual cases.

No raises for Tech docs in Amarillo

2009-08-10T07:20:00.000-07:00

A story appeared in Saturday's Globe-News on pending raises for Texas Tech faculty.

"Faculty and staff for almost all Texas Tech institutions will receive up to 6 percent more in pay under a budget approved by the system's governing board Friday," the story by the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal's Elliott Blackburn stated.

However, I ran into Tech School of Medicine Regional Dean Richard Jordan at a meeting early Monday morning and he said faculty at the Tech Health Sciences Center in Amarillo will not be received raises this year.

Things are looking pretty tight this year, he made it seem like.

Still strong feelings after years

2009-08-07T17:26:00.000-07:00

Me: With your new cancer center, there are now three on one-mile stretch of road that basically offer the same breast cancer services for patients. How can all three stay in business?
Glenna Henderson: “You realize that’s a politically charged question?”
Glenna was right. I asked her that question yesterday afternoon for a story that appeared in today’s Globe-News.
It was on Texas Oncology’s new Breast Center, a diagnostic imaging center for breast cancer screening and analysis. Glenna is the administrator at Texas Oncology.
Here’s why my question was politically charged:
Many of the physicians who make up Texas Oncology worked at Harrington Cancer Center before Baptist St. Anthony’s Health System bought it out. That move came in 1996, but still there is bad blood over the move.
Many doctors didn’t want to work for the hospital and didn’t agree with how it would handle many administrative decisions on treatment options.
So some oncologists formed their own practice in Texas Oncology. Their new Breast Center now competes directly with BSA’s Comprehensive Breast Center, which was run by Dr. John “Chip” Coscia for nearly four years. Coscia now runs Texas Oncology’s breast cancer unit.
Do you see what I’m getting at?
It’s been more than four years since talks began for BSA to take over Harrington, yet feelings are still strong.
Numerous doctors in Amarillo have strong opinions about the heavy-handed way in which BSA operates.
This Harrington buyout has been one case in which doctors not been afraid to speak out against BSA.
In a town in which political correctness reigns supreme, such open discussion is refreshing.

Is BSA wronging Texas Tech?

2009-07-31T14:34:00.000-07:00

For a few decades, the nuns of the now defunct St. Anthony’s Hospital allowed the Texas Tech School of Medicine in Amarillo to house - at no costs - its family medicine clinic in the hospital.
Tech’s free days are over with the hospital, which merged with High Plains Baptist Hospital in the mid 1990s to form Baptist St. Anthony’s Health System.
Tech’s Family and Community Medicine Clinic this week moved into new digs on the fifth floor of its School of Medicine building at 1400 S. Coulter St. The school added a floor to the building in the past year, a project that cost the state and its taxpayers $7.7 million.
A few years ago, BSA asked the school to vacate the 30-exam room space so the hospital could use it.
Should the public be more critical of the move or see this as a proper move for the hospital?
BSA has long been criticized by some in the Amarillo medical community for not doing enough to fund health-care programs for the low-income.
Certainly, not all of Tech’s patients are low-income, but Tech physicians are some of the only ones in Amarillo who will see new Medicaid patients.
Its pediatrics department loses hundreds of thousands of dollars a year providing care to children of qualified indigents for the Amarillo Hospital District.
Providing free space to the school also saves state taxpayers money in rent and building projects.

Can Americans accept rationed care?

2009-07-30T16:38:00.000-07:00

I returned this evening from an interview with an Amarillo obstetrician regarding a story I’m pursuing on more women delivering babies via Cesarean sections.
The obstetrician mentioned the often-heard topic of how doctors these days order too many tests or opt for more expensive medical procedures that supposedly make the patient safer. The result is a more expensive health-care system.
The comment prompted me to think that Americans could never accept a medical system whereby they are guaranteed the best medical care when they want it.
The ongoing debate on health-care reform in Washington has heated opinions on both sides and for good reason.
Some principles of “Obamacare” include rationing, where not everybody is guaranteed a procedure or service just because they want or can pay for it. This has become a hot topic for seniors who don’t want to be denied end-of-life care when they need it.
My question still stands. Will Americans, after decades of such choice in a system, accept rationed health care?
Has this country’s demand for superior care every time, all time outpaced any ability to dramatically reform the methods of delivery?

Obese people spend 42 percent more on health care than normal-weight people

2009-07-27T09:10:00.000-07:00

A report released Monday found that obesity costs the United States $147 billion based on information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention among others.
The report is another in a long line that highlights how overweight Americans cost the health care system.
The study, entitled “Annual Medical Spending Attributable to Obesity”, found that obese people spent 42 percent more for medical care in 2006 than normal-weight people. That translates to $1,429 more money per year.
The report appeared online Monday in the journal Health Affairs.
Another study released earlier this month found that 33 percent of Americans were considered obese.

Health care spending in the U.S.

2009-07-22T08:27:00.000-07:00

It’s hard to turn on the evening news or a cable news network this week and not hear something concerning President Obama’s health-care reform.
There are strong opinions on either side of the issue, but the fact still remains that something needs to be done to correct the amount of money the U.S. spends medicine.
Health care represented 17 percent of this country’s gross domestic product in 2007, according to the National Coalition on Health Care. That was $2.4 trillion or $7,900 per person.
In 2008, health expenditures were expected to rise twice the rate of inflation, the coalition said.
Is that not a problem?
Forget about covering the millions of uninsured in this country. The U.S. needs a paradigm shift on its attitudes toward health care spending.
Jamie Orlikoff, a leading health care consultant, spoke at Baptist St. Anthony’s Hospital in late November and gave a powerful talk on the problems facing U.S. health care.
That night, he likened the U.S. spending on health care to the Soviet’s spending on its military.
“Health care is bankrupting the economy,” Orlikoff told select medical, civic and hospital leaders. “We’re spending too much on health care.”
Orlikoff threw some sobering statistics at the crowd:

In 2006, U.S. spending on health care would have created the third-largest economy in the world.

By 2015, nearly 1 of every 5 dollars spent in the U.S. will be on health care.

While fighting two wars in the Middle East, the U.S. still spends four times more on health care than the military.

The Medicare program will be bankrupt in the next decade, government reports say if nothing is done to correct the program.

I read one op-ed piece this morning that stated, “Is it a problem that the United States has almost four times as many MRI scanners per capita as Canada does?”
Yes. Depending on how often they are used in individual communities.
If you have a dozen MRI machines in a square mile and each is only use sparingly, then why force consumers to pay for a multi-million dollar MRI machine when offices could consolidate their use?
It flies in the face of reason, but in health care, bigger is not always better and the newest, most advanced technology is not always needed for quality health care.

Your tax dollars at work

2009-07-21T07:39:00.000-07:00

The mental wellness of our returning veterans has gotten a lot of attention in recent years and rightfully so.
A study released this year shows nearly one in five military personnel Iraq and Afghanistan show signs of post-traumatic stress disorder, commonly called PTSD.
The Department of Veterans Affairs unveiled a unique program in October designed to better reach veterans who need counseling.
Fifty motor homes would be stationed at Vet Centers around the country and travel their respective regions assisting veterans with adjusting to post-combat life.
The Amarillo Vet Center received one such motor home – dubbed mobile Vet Center – early this year.
However, the 38-foot vehicle has sat unused in a parking lot of the Thomas E. Creek Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
The staff of the Amarillo Vet Center has worked for months trying to hire the staff to man the mobile Vet Center.
Still nothing has been finalized and veterans across the Texas Panhandle have been left in the wind.
Keep calling and waiting. Maybe one day the mobile Vet Center will be rolling out.

State association's view on health reform

2009-07-20T08:34:00.000-07:00

I received the following news release from late Friday and though I’d share it on my blog. The Texas Medical Association is a very powerful lobby in the state and a big influence on the American Medical Association.

Statement from Texas Medical Association President William H. Fleming III, MD, regarding H.R. 3200, “America’s Affordable Health Care Choices Act of 2009,” Congressional legislation to reform America’s health care system.

“The physicians of the Texas Medical Association believe our health care
system is broken and needs reform. However, we cannot support the current House
proposal, H.R. 3200, ‘America’s Affordable Health Care Choices Act of 2009,’ at
this time. While it addresses some of health care’s ailments, it leaves gaping
wounds and does not serve Texas patients well.

“As physicians, our primary goal is to improve the health of our patients.
We believe that patients and their physicians must be free to make choices that
best fit their individual health care needs. This legislation severely limits
those choices.

“Therefore, TMA cannot support a proposal to create another
government-payer health plan while existing government-payer plans, such
Medicare, Medicaid, and the military health care program, TRICARE, are failing
patients. We are deeply troubled there is no fix to the flawed Medicare funding
formula, which limits seniors’ ability to see a doctor when they need to; and
the absence of medical liability reforms, which provide greater access to care
to Texas patients. We remain extremely concerned that the ‘public option’ will
soon become the controlling payer in all health care, resulting in an unworkable
government price-setting scheme like we now see in Medicare. TMA physicians also
are concerned that this plan limits at which hospitals patients can receive
care.

“TMA physicians will continue to review and analyze H.R. 3200, and pledge
to work with Congressional leaders and the Obama administration in crafting
legislation that truly would improve health care ― the patient-physician
relationship ― in the United States and Texas. As physicians, it is our ethical
duty to provide leadership on these public policy decisions.”

TMA is the largest state medical society in the nation, representing nearly 44,000 physician and medical student members. It is located in Austin and has 120 component county medical societies around the state. TMA’s key objective since 1853 is to improve the health of all Texans.

Matney's part-time job

2009-07-16T07:53:00.000-07:00

People in Amarillo would approach Paul Matney for years and ask him how it felt to only work two days a week.
They would see him on television Saturdays and Sundays delivering the weather.
Matney, who officially became the 13th president of Amarillo College Wednesday, had to correct them.
He actually worked seven days a week; five for Amarillo College or West Texas A&M and two for a television station.
For 19 years, Matney worked for KVII and KAMR as the weekend weatherman.
He started in 1972 when the news director of KVII was taking graduate classes in mass communication at West Texas A&M, where Matney was a graduate student. The news director asked Matney to come in to the Amarillo station and cut an audition tape.
“A week later, I was doing weekend weather,” Matney said in a recent interview.
Matney, 59, still laughs today when thinking about people who would ask him about retirement when he stopped appearing on the air in the early 1990s.
Don’t worry. Matney is still working, now as the president of Amarillo College.

Head scratcher on H1N1 in Amarillo

2009-07-15T07:43:00.000-07:00

Surprised. Puzzled. A little concerned.
Those are all ways to describe how Amarillo public health officials feel when thinking about why their city has not seen any cases of H1N1, the virus commonly called swine flu.
“Right now, we haven't been able to find an explanation as to why that's the case,” Amarillo Public Health Department Director Matt Richardson said.
State health officials have confirmed more than 4,200 H1N1 cases and almost 200 more are still pending.
Still, none have appeared in Amarillo and only one – a recently confirmed case in Hemphill County – has shown in the Panhandle.
Other West Texas cities, Lubbock, Abilene, San Angelo and Wichita Falls, have reported multiple cases. None still in Amarillo.
Why?
Health officials can offer a few possible reasons, but they say there is no scientific reason as to why the virus shouldn’t have appeared locally nearly four months after it first showed in the state.
Only a relative handful of flu cases are tested for H1N1; those patients who are hospitalized with flu-like illness.
“Certainly in Amarillo, we don’t have as many of those as other communities,” Richardson said.
He and other Amarillo health officials have asked state and regional experts to explain why Potter and Randall counties don’t have H1N1 cases.
Still no answer has been given.

Americans keep getting fatter and fatter

2009-07-02T14:48:00.000-07:00

Adult obesity rates increased this year in 23 states and failed to decrease in any, according to a report released this week from two national health advocates, the Trust for America’s Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

No state’s percentage of overweight or obese adults decreased from last year.
Texas, which ranked 14th among the states for overweight and obese adults, kept its same rate as last year, just under 28 percent.

Here is the really disturbing point:
Obesity rates are continuing to spiral out of control.
According to this study, no state had an obesity rate more than 20 percent in 1991. The national average for adult obesity was 15 percent in 1980.
Now adult obesity exceeds 33 percent.

Another sad point:
The rate of overweight and obese children is higher than that of adults.
In Texas, 32 percent of children were overweight, the study found.
Nationally, obesity rates topped 30 percent in 30 states.

Here is why you should care:
Obesity is closely tied to a person’s general health.
When the nation’s health goes bad, health-care costs go up.
As the national debate on health care continues, rising costs is a mammoth issue.
The nation can’t expect costs to stop growing when their waist lines don’t.

Television report misses the mark

2009-07-01T09:24:00.000-07:00

I wanted to reflect on a report about a new medical device that a local television station recently broadcasted.
The story highlighted a study on the effectiveness of a new heart defibrillator. An Amarillo cardiologist and some of his patients were part of the study.
The piece is entirely praiseful of the new device and mostly repeats the news release with supplements of two local patients involved in the study.
What the story doesn’t tell you is that device costs $30,000 – a pretty little penny.
It also doesn’t state the actual number of people whose lives were saved or didn’t need live-saving interventions because of the device.
The press release only provides a “29 percent reduction in death or heart failure interventions when compared to traditional implantable cardioverter defibrillators.”
It is possible that just a relative handful of lives could be saved with the new defibrillator rather than an older model defibrillator. The manufacturer, Boston Scientific, declined to release such information to me.
The story doesn’t state any possible alternative treatments or harms from the new device.
The study is also very preliminary and not yet published in a peer-review journal.
Gary Schwitzer, publisher of HealthNewsReview.com, gives the following caution when reporting on such topics:

Consumers should know that medical devices and procedures don't undergo the same type of scrutiny for safety and effectiveness as that used for prescription drugs. As a result, may not be given much information on possible benefits and harms of new devices and procedures.

Schwitzer also provides the general guideline that bigger medical research is not always better and newer toys and drugs are not always better for consumers.
Cheerleading for such new medical technology without demanding certain questions be answered for consumers as the recent story did is one reason why health-care costs in this country are out of control.
Needless to say, I declined to write a story on this when I was sent the press release last week.

Turtle cancers versus bird cancers

2009-06-30T08:25:00.000-07:00

Not all cancer cells spread at the same rate, I learned recently, but understanding the difference could help save untold amounts of money and suffering.
There are cancers that metastasize at the speed of turtles crawling, others at the speed of birds flying and some at the speed of bears running.
That analogy came from Barry Kramer, a leading oncologist and editor in chief of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, during a conference on medical reporting last week that I attended last week.
The cancer cells that spread as fast as birds are difficult to treat because the cancer has typically started to infect other parts of the body than where it had started by the time it’s detected.
The cancer cells that spread as fast as turtles aren’t nearly as dangerous and don’t need to be treated as intensely as others.
A great deal of resources, money and patient suffering could be spared if cancer doctors could spot the difference between bird cancers, bear cancers and turtle cancers.
If doctors could spot the different cancers they could adjust their treatment accordingly rather than do everything necessary to kill all cancer they see right then, Kramer said.
He added the problem for patients, oncologists and cancer researchers is that people are hesitant to stop and research the difference in how cancers spread. Doing so may endanger the safety of those receiving life-saving cancer therapies.

'Why are doctors so corrupt?'

2009-06-29T09:31:00.000-07:00

“Why are doctors so corrupt?”
The question came from a freelance health care journalist at a conference on medical reporting I just returned from.
He posed the question to a New York Times reporter during the first day of our four-day stay in the Washington, D.C. suburb of Bethesda, Md.
I asked the gentleman who posed the question the next morning to elaborate on his thoughts.
His point was this:
From Enron to AIG, Americans have seen first hand during the past few years a number of corrupt industries and businesses steering their followers in negative directions.
With the United States spending nearly one sixth of its gross domestic product on health care, a percent far greater than any other industrialized country, there is no end of a spending slow down in sight.
Doctors have close ties with pharmaceutical companies, he said, and negotiate payment rates with health insurers. Conflicts of interest are everywhere for doctors.
His question came during a talk on a story of a researcher who published findings of lung cancer death prevention in the New England Journal of Medicine. The study was underwritten by a cigarette company, a fact the researcher tried to conceal.
Too often patients accept what their doctors tell them without question. Journalists do the same. I am avoiding answering the question, but it’s a question at least worth asking.

This reporter is gone to Maryland

2009-06-23T20:04:00.000-07:00

I’ll consider myself very fortunate the next few days.
Earlier this year, I applied and was one of 50 journalists from across the country accepted to attend a conference this week on medical reporting.
So for four days this week, I will be in Bethesda, Md. at the meeting entitled Medicine in Media: The Challenges of Reporting on Medical Research.
Each of the past eight years, the National Institutes of Health’s Office of Medical Applications of Research has paid for 50 journalists to attend the conference.
The NIH describes the seminar as such:

The course will examine the challenges and opportunities inherent in the process
of communicating the results of medical research to the public. Stressing an
evidence-based approach and re-examining intuitive beliefs about medicine, the
course will prepare participants for the crucial task of interpreting and
evaluating research findings, including: understanding statistics, selecting
stories that hold meaningful messages for the public, and placing them in the
appropriate context.

From Wednesday to Saturday, the course will provide 18 short classes on various medical journalism topics.
On top of all of that, it will cost me nothing. Like I said, I feel grateful.

Texas wines and cancer growth

2009-06-23T11:53:00.000-07:00

It’s a happy time for Texas wine drinkers.
According to a Texas AgriLife researcher, wines produced in the Lone Star State share anti-cancer traits that exist in wines from other parts of the world.
Extracts from two Texas red wines decreased colon and breast cancer cell growth in similar amounts to other wines previously studied.
"In general, studies show that wine may either prevent cells from mutating into cancer cells, or stop existing cancer cells from growing and causing them to die," Dr. Susanne Talcott said in a news release.
She said the findings suggest that people who consume regular, moderate amounts of Texas wine daily - up to a glass and a half - may benefit from similar health benefits ascribed to wines from other regions.
To put it simply, cancer cells grow unimpeded until wine compounds slow the spread of cancer. The study finished last month and examined port and syrah wine.
"These results could definitely be projected to all Texas wines containing similar amounts of bioactive compounds," Talcott said. "And this will be the basis for a continued intensive study of all the health benefits of wines made in this state."
She will now begin studying other health benefits of Texas wines including its impact on cardiovascular disease.
The state is home to 177 wineries.
For more information, visit http://winegrapes.tamu.edu/ or at http://www.gotexanwine.org/.

Win a 3-bedroom home for $50 and some luck

2009-06-22T08:46:00.000-07:00

I’m trying to remember the nicest prize I’ve ever won in a raffle.
It may have been a leprechaun statue for some St. Patrick’s Day event.
Whoever win’s this raffle will certainly take home a sweet prize. Heck, the prize is a home.
The Myelin Project, an international research foundation based in Amarillo, will raffle off a three-bedroom home in south Amarillo to raise money to fund medical research projects.
The Myelin Project funds researchers seeking cures for diseases that attack the insulating sheath surrounding nerve cells. The most notable disease is adrenoleukodystrophy or ALD.
In an age where endowments are drying up and donors are hard to come by, the Myelin Project is buying a home from local builder Wayne Osteen and selling tickets to cover the cost of buying it and raise money for the foundation.
The auctioned home will be 1,775 square feet, have three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a two-car garage. It will be located at 3600 Springfield Ave. in the City View Addition off South Western Street near Hollywood Road.
Homes in that neighborhood and around that size are selling for around $200,000.
Tickets cost $50 and the winner will be drawn Oct. 18. The home’s ground breaking will take place 10 a.m. Wednesday.
The first 3,500 tickets will pay for the house. The rest will go to the foundation to help fund researchers.
Tickets are available online at www.myelin.org.
For $50, I may just have to take a chance.

Hello (blogging) World

2009-06-19T09:33:00.000-07:00

Where do I start?
I was asked to write an opening blog entry to “introduce” myself to readers before I take a dip into a new medium, blogging. One question most out there are wondering is why do I want to start this?
Those who work in the newsroom of the Globe-News recently held a staff meeting to introduce two summer interns. Everyone in the room took turns to introduce themselves and state their job.
I was the fourth person to speak.
“I’m David Pittman. I cover higher education, health and medicine, general business stories.”
My answer drew some chuckles from colleagues, mainly because I have a lot to cover. Inevitably, I don’t have the time or space to do full stories on all issues that come before me.
I envision this blog as a way to serve as an outlet for some issues left uncovered, including the wave of news releases and alerts that always flow in. I can expand upon stories already written about and don’t have space or time to touch on. I can still provide analysis of on-going issues I cover.
The concept of journalists blogging is nothing new in an era when a vast majority of Americans go online for at least part of their news.
This blog will be my attempt to provide more information and insight on a different medium. I’ve already built a large twitter following at twitter.com/David_Pittman.
Stick around. We’ll probably both learn something.