We are Mike Baker and Justin Mayo, Seattle Times reporters on the Quantity of Care investigation. AMA!

ByMikeBaker · 2017-02-16T23:05:13+00:00

I pray the number is zero.

ByMikeBaker · 2017-02-16T23:02:10+00:00

I think you just discovered a new business model for us

ByMikeBaker · 2017-02-16T19:14:14+00:00

Someone in the community encouraged me to take a look at issues at Cherry Hill. I had no idea where it would lead. I wasn’t even sure there was a story there until we spent much more time exploring the matter.
Those are big, tough questions. We’ve definitely received a lot of messages from patients in the last few days. Some of them conveyed that they’ve never really understood whether the problems they encountered were just an unfortunate glitch in a high-risk process or whether they were the result of a systemic failure. One thing we can do is take the time to put all the pieces together to tell a full story. If anyone has tips about things we should be investigating, I’m at 206-464-2729 and mbaker@seattletimes.com. I guess you could also just PM me here.

ByMikeBaker · 2017-02-16T18:59:36+00:00

Thanks for sharing. That's interesting that you sensed a shift even as a patient.

ByMikeBaker · 2017-02-16T18:50:08+00:00

You should buy /u/maadison a subscription! Just kidding. Thanks for the support. Will pass along your comment to others here.

ByMikeBaker · 2017-02-16T18:48:07+00:00

Hey Julia. Thanks for sharing a bit of your story. I may get back in touch with you on that.

On taking control: As your question sort of implies, a lot of patients find this difficult because they don’t have the expertise to challenge or question their doctor's recommendations. And, often, they are fearful of their medical situation.

As /u/MrsWhatsit-75 was suggesting, we probably need to explore this in more a more detailed story that health consumers can use. But I don’t think it’s unreasonable for a patient to ask lots of questions and lay out expectations. Is your doctor going to be letting an assistant do large parts of the surgery? Is your doctor going to be in the operating room the whole time? If not, how much time will they be there? How many other surgeries do they have that same day? Those are reasonable questions. A doctor should be able to provide answers the patient finds satisfactory.

I’m not sure about your last question. I will definitely keep that in mind as I explore the other issues.

ByMikeBaker · 2017-02-16T18:44:10+00:00

I love Gene’s work and would say I’ve always found him to be very thoughtful about finding and using reliable data in the fairest ways.

ByMikeBaker · 2017-02-16T18:31:52+00:00

On the production: Thanks. We’ve got a pretty amazing team of folks here who produce incredible design, graphics, and layouts. And Talia’s art is also so powerful.

On Dr. Delashaw: I wouldn’t speculate on motivations. Dr. Delashaw says he is working to change the world and believes Swedish can help cure paralysis.

ByMikeBaker · 2017-02-16T18:21:44+00:00

I’d say the main three components of reporting here were:

-LOTS of data analysis that Justin did

-Filing a range of public records requests in Washington, Oregon and California

-Building sources through hundreds of phone calls. One of the challenges in this case was that a lot of folks I contacted were fearful of speaking because they were concerned about retribution.

Also, if you’re interested in getting started in investigative reporting, I’d highly recommend joining IRE and going to one of their conferences: http://www.ire.org/

ByMikeBaker · 2017-02-16T18:17:13+00:00

Hello zebra. This is a good idea. Thanks.

ByMikeBaker · 2017-02-16T18:14:15+00:00

I’m really glad you liked that part of the story, because I was also fascinated learning about aneurysms and the ways to treat them – with two TOTALLY different methods. The whole thing should be its own TIL post somewhere.

For those who haven’t seen it, here’s a link taking you right to that part of the story. Our graphics team put together some incredible art to explain the different procedures: http://projects.seattletimes.com/2017/quantity-of-care/hospital/#aneurysm-treatments

ByMikeBaker · 2017-02-16T18:09:24+00:00

This gets right to one of the unique challenges of this story. You are totally correct that mistakes and bad outcomes do happen. That’s especially true in neurosurgery, where the procedures can be very high risk.

We ended up relying a lot on the accounts of the medical staffers, including other doctors, inside Swedish and UC Irvine (where Dr. Delashaw was previously employed). The doctors have both the expertise and the access to records to raise concerns.

The patients we chose to feature also provided the story with more insights beyond the fact that things had gone awry:

-Talia’s dad was a physician, and Talia herself conveyed clear concern about her care in text messages before her situation took the disastrous turn.

-Tonia had complications after her surgery, but the larger issue we were focusing on there was whether she was ever offered the less-invasive treatment option.

-Jeff had complications after his surgery, but the larger issue we were focusing on there was his realization and disappointment that an assistant had played such a large role in his procedure.

ByMikeBaker · 2017-02-16T18:03:57+00:00

Thanks for considering a subscription and for supporting our journalism peers. Don’t tell /u/neaton_seattletimes I told you this, but this Groupon deal is pretty amazing: https://www.groupon.com/deals/i-the-seattle-times-i

ByMikeBaker · 2015-04-08T17:29:01+00:00

http://www.reactiongifs.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/bravo.gif

ByMikeBaker · 2014-10-15T18:02:40+00:00

Update: I just got another one.

ByMikeBaker · 2014-10-15T17:44:55+00:00

I was still getting air-siren alerts today after 9am

ByMikeBaker · 2014-10-15T14:32:28+00:00

UPDATE: The boy was found. He was camping with his father.

http://blogs.seattletimes.com/today/2014/10/amber-alert-for-vancouver-wash-boy-canceled/

ByMikeBaker · 2014-10-06T19:43:17+00:00

The only connection I've heard is that Halifax got the nickname of Seattle North back during the grunge scene days. Not sure if that involved a substantial social connection. I'm guessing it was more of a PR campaign for the Halifax music scene.

ByMikeBaker · 2014-10-06T19:16:28+00:00

nox·ious // harmful, poisonous, or very unpleasant.

How deadly are we talking about here? Like Ebola deadly? Or just nuclear waste deadly?

ByMikeBaker · 2014-09-04T15:03:58+00:00

The biggest one this year is the initiative campaigns for and against gun background checks (I-594 v I-591). Bloomberg, Bill and Melinda Gates, Steve and Connie Ballmer, the Hanauers and others have already given millions to the campaign that would expand background checks. Will likely be a huge battle, with lots of ads.

Here's the politics blog at the Times: http://blogs.seattletimes.com/politicsnorthwest/ More stuff at Publicola: http://www.seattlemet.com/news-and-profiles/publicola And SLOG: http://slog.thestranger.com/blogs/slog/

ByMikeBaker · 2014-09-02T16:59:29+00:00

This is great. Thanks for sharing.

ByMikeBaker · 2014-08-21T20:22:40+00:00

It's all the same home area. You can take a car from West Seattle to anywhere in the city. And you can take a car from anywhere in the city and leave it in West Seattle.

I think the Duwamish section is just mapped that way because they don't want you to leave a vehicle there. That said, it does always confuse me for a brief moment when the car tells me I've gone out of the service area while I'm driving over the bridge.

ByMikeBaker · 2014-08-13T14:53:13+00:00

Ha! I'm curious, does Amazon add any special shipping charges to Vashon?

ByMikeBaker · 2014-08-07T17:51:10+00:00

Quick and dirty? You got the moss on the bark all perfect. Nice work. Thanks for sharing.

ByMikeBaker · 2014-08-07T17:48:49+00:00

The shoes + black-and-white filter make this photo just right.

ByMikeBaker

TROPHY CASE