Latest stories

Aug. 23, 2015

Bringing transparency into the operating room

A project by ProPublica, a nonprofit, independent news organization, allows the public to vet surgeons and hospitals.

Jan. 16, 2013

Why the gun control debate is a boon to the firearms industry

President Barack Obama laid out his agenda today to reduce gun violence, but here’s the reality: Obama’s re-election and the Sandy Hook massacre have been a gift to the gun industry and the gun rights lobby.

Sept. 25, 2012

Why patients don't report medical errors

I was recently browsing through the nearly 200 stories we've compiled with our Patient Harm Questionnaire, when I was reminded again of a troubling truth. Many of the people who suffer harm while undergoing medical care do not file formal complaints with regulators.

June 21, 2012

Meet Rosie, the germ-zapping housekeeper at MountainView Hospital

Xenex Healthcare Services portable room disinfection device is demonstrated at MountainView Hospital's physical rehabilitation unit on Wednesday, June 20, 2012. MountainView is the first hospital in Nevada to employ  the device, which uses blue ultraviolet light to disinfect rooms.

The campaign to eliminate lethal, hospital-acquired infections is moving from buckets of bleach to a 4-foot-tall robot with a telescoping, disk-shaped head that emits bursts of ultra-violet light. The device can be moved from one hospital room to another, where for five minutes or more it flashes 90 bursts of UV light per minute, destroying bacteria and viruses. Its primary target: Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) or Clostridium difficile (C. diff).

April 24, 2012

Nevada may push more children's services onto community groups

Unable to provide services to the state’s youngest children with physical and developmental disabilities, the state is considering shifting more of the responsibility to nonprofit community providers.

Oct. 15, 2011

‘Do No Harm’ headlines 34 awards for Las Vegas Sun

The Nevada Press Association on Saturday honored the Las Vegas Sun with 34 awards, including 14 first-place prizes involving investigative projects, feature writing, opinions and design, as well as for serving the community and upholding freedom of the press.

June 24, 2011

Governor signs health care transparency bills into law

Gov. Brian Sandoval has signed a package of bills that will greatly increase the amount of information about hospital quality available to the public, a “remarkable achievement” toward improving health care safety, according to a legislator.

June 4, 2011

Where do hospital safety disclosure bills stand in Legislature?

Perhaps the most significant sign that opinion has shifted on whether patients should know more about Nevada hospitals’ safety records: The Nevada Hospital Association and Nevada State Medical Association supported bills requiring such disclosure during the 2011 Legislature.

Hospital safety bills eyed in session

Perhaps the most significant sign that opinion has shifted on whether patients can be trusted with information about Nevada hospitals’ safety records: The Nevada Hospital Association and Nevada State Medical Association supported bills requiring such disclosure during the 2011 Legislature.

April 26, 2011

Senate passes bill requiring greater health care transparency

Without dissent, the state Senate on Tuesday approved a bill to allow Nevadans to compare hospitals’ rates of unexpected medical outcomes such as patient infections, deaths and physical injury.

April 14, 2011

Health care transparency bills clear state Senate committee

A package of health care reform and transparency bills passed a key milestone in the state Senate on Thursday night, creating a “magnificent compliment of bills,” one sponsor said.

March 27, 2011

Mistake admitted, respect earned

Dr. David Ring prepares a patient for hand surgery at Mass General West in Waltham, Mass., Thursday, March 3, 2011.

Dr. David Ring had just finished operating on the hand of a 65-year-old woman when he made a discovery that two years later still brings tears to his eyes.

A century later, openess still gets tepid embrace

A century ago, Dr. Ernest Amory Codman, a Harvard surgeon, led a one-man campaign for health care transparency and in the process became a “martyr of quality.”

Admitting harm protects patients

Paul Levy, the former CEO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, takes a walk to a frozen lake near his home in Newton, Mass., on Wednesday, March 2, 2011.

As Nevada legislators debate this week whether to require hospitals to publicly report when they harm patients, they could learn a lot from Paul Levy’s experience in pulling back the veil of hospital secrecy.

March 8, 2011

Sun reporters win investigative reporting award for hospital series

Two journalists who reported and wrote the Sun series “Do No Harm: Hospital Care in Las Vegas” have been awarded the Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting, sponsored by Harvard University’s Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy.

Where I Stand

Fascination and frustration in reporting on Las Vegas hospital care

The assignment Sun reporter Marshall Allen was given two years ago was just one sentence, but would prove to be the most ambitious of his career: Find out what’s right, and wrong, about our local health care delivery system.

Interactive Features

Harmful events glossary

The data showed eight categories of harm including bedsores, infections, bone breaks and foreign objects accidentally retained after surgery.

Documents

See the source material behind the stories: legal filings, academic research, minutes from legislative hearings and internal e-mails.

Your stories

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