Hospitals and Clinics Undercover
Reportage
Description
Journalists have devised any number of ruses to get inside hospitals and clinics -- as patients or staff members.
Reporters
Media History
The reporting was intended for these media types: Magazine, Newspaper, Book, Television
Articles, Books, Video/Film
"A City's Disgrace" - Annie Laurie - San Francisco Examiner | "Sample of the Civilization of the Nineteenth Century. Brutality of Public Servants. 'The Examiner's' Annie Laurie in the Receiving Hospital."
January 19, 1890
Annie Laurie, aka Winifred Sweet, later Winifred Black, (and later Winifred Black Bonfils), feigned illness on a ..."Bedlam 1946" - Albert Q. Maisel - Life Magazine | Most of U.S. Mental Hospitals Are a Shame and Disgrace
May 6, 1946I-Von Solbrig Task Force: "Filth and neglect bared at von Solbrig Hospital" - Unsigned - Chicago Tribune | Task Force Report
September 7, 1975
From the editor's note: "Chicago's only for-profit general hospital, von Solbrig Memorial, is one doctor's personal ...II-Von Solbrig Task Force: "'Janitor' Helps With Patients" - William Gaines - Chicago Tribune | Lives are held in grimy hands
September 7, 1975
Tribune Task Force reporter William Gaines, who worked as a janitor at von Solbrig Hospital, reports that he is ...III-Von Solbrig Task Force: "4 doctors on list dead" - Pamela Zekman - Chicago Tribune | Only 18 of 50 'staff' practice at hospital
September 7, 1975
Tribune Task Force director Pamela Zekman reports that a significant fraction of the doctors listed in vol Solbrig's ...IV-Von Solbrig Task Force: "Surgery done on assembly line" - von Solbrig Physician - Chicago Tribune | By von Solbrig physician
September 8, 1975
The Tribune Task Force reports that one particular doctor at von Solbrig hospital performs a prolific number of ...Reaction: -Von Solbrig Task Force: "Probe started at von Solbrig" - William Gaines and Jay Branegan - Chicago Tribune
September 9, 1975V-Von Solbrig Task Force: "Hospital hunts patients" - Task Force Report - Chicago Tribune | Gets welfare cash
September 9, 1975
From the editor's note: "A diffuse network of flophouse operators, ambulance companies and a "patient recruiter" ...VI-Von Solbrig Task Force: "'A nice place to go,' doctor tells drunks" - William Crawford - Chicago Tribune
September 9, 1975
Tribune Task Force member William Crawford reports that one particular patient at Northeast Community Hospital, an ...Reaction: Von Solbrig Task Force: "Von Solbrig Hospital Placed on Probation" - Pamela Zekman and William Gaines - Chicago Tribune
September 10, 1975VII-Von Solbrig Task Force: "Hospital Proves a Costly Haven for Alcoholics" - Task Force Report - Chicago Tribune | Task Force Report
September 10, 1975
From editor's note: "Thousands of alcoholics every year, most of them on public aid, go thru the alcoholism ..."A Season in Hell" - Dick J. Reavis - Texas Monthly | At Rusk State Hospital, you're either a criminal or insane. Or both.
October 1, 1978
Dick Reavis poses as an attendent at Rusk State Hospital to report what he sees."We Do Abortions Here: A Nurse's Story" - Sallie Tisdale - Harper's
October 1, 1987
Sallie Tisdale, a nurse, describes working as a nurse in an abortion clinic."7 1/2 Days" - Kevin Heldman - City Limits | When Kevin Heldman went undercover at Woodhull’s psychiatric unit, he wanted to experience how low-income people were treated. In 179 hours as a mental patient, he found little care and even less comfort.
June 1, 1998
From the City Limits blurb: "When Kevin Heldman went undercover at Woodhull's psychiatric unit, he wanted to ..."Welcome to Cancerland" - Barbara Ehrenreich - Harper's
November 1, 2001I-"Walter Reed Army Medical Center: Insult to Injury" - Mark Benjamin - Salon | Some wounded soldiers back from Iraq are having to pay for meals at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Veterans' groups say it's another symptom of fighting a costly war on the cheap.
January 27, 2005
At Walter Reed Army Medical Center, hundreds of wounded outpatient veterans whose stay exceeds 90 days must pay for ...II-"Walter Reed Army Medical Center: Behind the Walls of Ward 54" - Mark Benjamin - Salon | They're overmedicated, forced to talk about their mothers instead of Iraq, and have to fight for disability pay. Traumatized combat vets say the Army is failing them, and after a year following more than a dozen soldiers at Walter Reed Hospital, I believe them.
February 18, 2005
The first major article about the poor quality of care at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. This story focuses on the ...III-"Walter Reed Army Medical Center: Losing Their Minds" - Mark Benjamin - Salon | More U.S. soldiers than ever are sustaining serious brain injuries in Iraq. But a significant number of them are being misdiagnosed, forced to wait for treatment or even being called liars by the Army.
January 5, 2006
An article highlighting the increasing number of soldiers returning from war with brain injuries and psychiatric ...I-Walter Reed: "Soldiers Face Neglect, Frustration at Army's Top Medical Facility" - Dana Priest and Anne Hull - Washington Post
February 18, 2007
First in a series of articles exposing the poor conditions endured by war veterans at the Walter Reed Army Medical ...II-Walter Reed: "The Hotel Aftermath" - Anne Hull and Dana Priest - Washington Post | Inside Mologne House, the Survivors of War Wrestle With Military Bureaucracy and Personal Demons
February 19, 2007
The second installment in The Washington Post’s Pulitzer-Prize-winning series about the Walter Reed Army Medical ...III-Walter Reed: "Hospital Investigates Former Aid Chief" - Anne Hull and Dana Priest - Washington Post | Walter Reed Official Had Own Charity
February 20, 2007
The third article in The Washington Post’s Pulitzer-Prize-winning series "The Other Walter Reed" reveals that ...IV-Walter Reed: "'It Is Just Not Walter Reed'" - Anne Hull and Dana Priest - Washington Post | Soldiers Share Troubling Stories Of Military Health Care Across U.S.
March 5, 2007
Part of The Washington Post's "The Other Walter Reed" series, this article explores how VA hospitals across the ...Follow-up: Walter Reed - "The War Inside" - Anne Hull and Dana Priest - Washington Post | Troops Are Returning From the Battlefield With Psychological Wounds, But the Mental-Health System That Serves Them Makes Healing Difficult
June 17, 2007
Part of The Washington Post's "The Other Walter Reed" series. This article focuses on Army Spec. Jeans Cruz, a ...Follow-up: Walter Reed - "Soldier Finds Comfort at Dark Journey's End" - Anne Hull and Dana Priest - Washington Post
June 17, 2007
This article focuses PTSD-patient Lt. Sylvia Blackwood and her difficulty getting treatment at Ward 3D East of the ...Follow-up: Walter Reed - "Little Relief on Ward 53" - Anne Hull and Dana Priest - Washington Post | At Walter Reed, Care for Soldiers Struggling With War's Mental Trauma Is Undermined by Doctor Shortages and Unfocused Methods
June 18, 2007
This article tells the story of Joshua Calloway, an Army Private First Class who returned from Iraq with PTSD, and ...Follow-up: Walter Reed - "Almost Home, but Facing More Delays at Walter Reed" - Dana Priest and Anne Hull - Washington Post | Errors Slow Disabled Soldier's Retirement
September 15, 2007
This article highlights the inefficiency, disorganization and bureaucracy faced by Walter Reed patients awaiting ...Follow-up: Walter Reed - "A Wife's Battle" - Anne Hull and Dana Priest - Washington Post | When Her Soldier Returned From Baghdad, Michelle Turner Picked Up the Burden of War
October 14, 2007
Another article about the mental health of soldiers returning from war, this one focusing on Michelle Turner, the ...Follow-up: Walter Reed: "A Patient Prosecuted" - Dana Priest and Anne Hull - Washington Post | Doctors at Walter Reed say she has a mental disorder. Army superiors say that's just an 'excuse' for her actions.
November 2, 2007
This article is about 1st Lt. Elizabeth Whiteside, a psychiatric patient at Walter Reed. Although diagnosed with a ..."Undercover Reporter 'Haunted' by Abuse of Patients" - Joe Casey - BBC Panorama | Joe Casey spent five weeks filming undercover in a private care hospital on the outskirts of Bristol after getting a job as a support worker. He was shocked by what he witnessed.
May 31, 2011
Undercover reporter Joe Casey recorded the mistreatment and abuse that Winterbourne View care hospital employees ..."Denver Undercover Investigation: Dentists With a Dark Side" - Heidi Hemmat - Fox 31 Denver
November 8, 2012
Fox31's investigative team went undercover to expose dentists who have previously had their licenses revoked or ..."WHDH Takes and Undercover Look at Medical Marijuana Certifications" - Merrill Knox - TV Spy
March 26, 2013
An undercover producer from WHDH investigates how easy it is to gain access to medical marijuana from clinics in ...