Monica Lam/The Center for Investigative Reporting SACRAMENTO – The in-house police force at California’s developmental centers has frequently neglected to interview victims of abuse, photograph crime scenes or collect statements from suspects and witnesses, according to a state audit released today that confirms the key findings detailed in a series by The Center for Investigative […]
Health Care
Flaws in the U.S. health care system, federal health programs and with individual medical providers and patients
Posted inHealth Care, Prisons
Female inmates sterilized in California prisons without approval
Doctors with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation sterilized nearly 150 female inmates from 2006 to 2010 without required state approvals. Critics say officials targeted women deemed likely to return to prison.
Posted inCriminal Justice, Health Care
Female inmates sterilized in California prisons without approval
The California Institution for Women in Corona was one of two state prisons where female inmates were sterilized without required state approvals. At least 148 women received tubal ligations in violation of prison rules from 2006 to 2010.Courtesy of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation Doctors under contract with the California Department of Corrections […]
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Posted inAmerica's Worst Charities, Health Care
Part 3: How one family turned your goodwill into their livelihood
Carol Smith still gets angry when she remembers the box that arrived by mail for her dying husband. Cancer Fund of America sent it when he was diagnosed with lung cancer six years ago. Smith had called the charity for help. “It was filled with paper plates, cups, napkins and kids’ toys,” the 67-year-old Knoxville, […]
Posted inHealth Care
Hospital chain to pay $275,000 to settle federal patient-privacy case
Monica Lam/The Center for Investigative Reporting Prime Healthcare Services says it will pay $275,000 to settle allegations that it broke federal privacy laws by publicizing a patient’s confidential hospital records in an effort to rebut a news report. In a statement Tuesday, the Ontario, Calif.-based hospital chain said it admitted no wrongdoing in connection with […]
Posted inAmerica's Worst Charities, Health Care
Part 2: A failure of regulation
Four years ago, charity regulators in 38 states banded together to take down one of the most deceptive charity solicitors in America. In an unusual show of force, they marshaled resources from across the country and targeted Community Support Inc. An investigator in Iowa posed as a donor and secretly recorded calls coming from boiler […]
Posted inAmerica's Worst Charities, Health Care
Part 1: Dirty secrets of the worst charities
The worst charity in America operates from a metal warehouse behind a gas station in Holiday, Fla. Every year, Kids Wish Network raises millions of dollars in donations in the name of dying children and their families. Every year, it spends less than 3 cents on the dollar helping kids. Most of the rest gets […]
Posted inHealth Care
How we identified the nation’s worst charities
The United States is home to roughly 1.6 million tax-exempt organizations. That’s far too many to examine closely. So the Tampa Bay Times and The Center for Investigative Reporting used data collected by the nonprofit charity tracker GuideStar USA to narrow the pool to the 5,800 charities nationwide that report paying professional solicitation companies to […]
Posted inAmerica's Worst Charities, Health Care
Don’t get fooled by bad charities
Before you give: Find out exactly who’s calling. Ask if the caller is a paid telemarketer. Get the exact name and location of the charity he or she represents. Beware of charities that mimic the names of well-established groups and of claims that you’ve given before to a charity you’ve never heard of. Find out […]
Posted inHealth Care
Hole in California law allows sex offenders to become addiction counselors
California State CapitolAndy Z./Shutterstock “Sexual psychopath.” That was the diagnosis a court-ordered psychiatrist gave Donald Robert Hoffman after he was convicted of molesting a 13-year-old boy in 1965. Hoffman, the psychiatrist determined, was a danger to others. But that history didn’t stop Hoffman from becoming a state-registered drug and alcohol counselor decades later, even though […]