Alex Richards

Stories

How the Sun identified surgical injuries: Sunday, Sept. 19, 2010; Every surgery results in an operative report, in which the surgeon notes each step of the procedure, including any inadvertent nicks, cuts or complications.
Patients at risk under the knife: Sunday, Sept. 19, 2010; Dr. Victor Grigoriev had good news for Georganne Mumm’s worried family when he emerged from the operating room. The surgery was a success, Mumm says he told her family. He had removed her cancerous kidney and her outlook was good.
A hidden epidemic: Sunday, Aug. 8, 2010; Las Vegas hospital officials say they are doing enough to protect patients from becoming infected with deadly bacteria. But hospitals are failing.
Billing codes key to data analyzed on infections: Sunday, Aug. 8, 2010; The Las Vegas Sun’s reporting on lethal bacteria in hospitals is based on analysis of Nevada hospital data collected by the state from 1999 to 2009.
Reporting is the first of its kind in Nevada: Sunday, June 27, 2010; The Sun’s reporting on patients being harmed while hospitalized is based on the newspaper’s analysis of Nevada hospital data collected in 2008 and 2009.
Health care can hurt you: Sunday, June 27, 2010; Among life’s core assumptions is that hospitals bring healing. But sometimes they bring harm. Rosie Powell’s surgeon removed a mass from the 74-year-old’s abdomen, thinking it was a cancerous tumor. It was a healthy kidney. Donna Wendt’s windpipe was torn during insertion of a breathing tube. Oxygen was pumped into her chest cavity instead of her lungs, bloating her. She couldn’t be saved.
The numbers: What Hispanics are earning in Nevada: Thursday, April 8, 2010; 2008 estimates indicate Nevada has the fifth-highest percentage of Hispanics in the U.S. — 26 percent, or 669,000.
By the numbers: Have you filled out your census form?: Thursday, April 1, 2010; Today is “National Census Day” — not exactly a national holiday but a point of reference for filling out 2010 Census forms mailed out in March.
Oops! Illegal bucks for Montandon: Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2010; Republican gubernatorial hopeful Mike Montandon accepted a $10,000 donation from a foreign company last year, a violation of federal campaign finance law. The former North Las Vegas mayor said Tuesday that he will return it.
For donors, no clear choice for governor: Sunday, Jan. 24, 2010; For the first time in decades, Nevada’s political establishment seems unable to settle on a candidate for governor, funneling large campaign contributions to both Democrat Rory Reid and Republican Brian Sandoval while abandoning incumbent Gov. Jim Gibbons, according to a review of campaign finance reports by the Las Vegas Sun.