An Open Letter To L.A. County's Director Of Public Health
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Reporter Callie Schweitzer was interviewed on KCRW's public affairs program Which Way L.A. Tuesday night to discuss Neon Tommy's major reporting package on H1N1 and L.A. County's swine flu deaths, on which she was the lead writer. On the program, Schweitzer said her reporting raised numerous questions best answered by L.A. County Director of Public Health Jonathan Fielding.
Schweitzer and other Neon Tommy reporters have been unsuccessful in getting Fielding to explain L.A. County's procedures for tracking swine flu deaths. Fielding, the other guest on Which Way L.A. Tuesday night, declined to have a conversation with Schweitzer on the air.
Listen to the Which Way L.A. segment below and read Schweitzer's open letter to Fielding, in which she again requests an interview with the director of public health.
Neon Tommy reporter Callie Schweitzer on the Nov. 9 episode of Which Way L.A.
Dear Dr. Fielding,
Imagine my excitement when I learned today that you would be joining me in a discussion with Warren Olney on KCRW's Which Way, L.A.?
For the past month, I've been trying to get an interview with you - L.A. County's top health official - for the main story in a blow-out multimedia project about swine flu that we produced last week at Neon Tommy.
I wanted to ask you some of the remaining questions my colleagues and I have about L.A. County's response to the H1N1 epidemic: What is the process for hospitals and physicians reporting swine flu deaths? What exactly are the 2,000 health department workers devoted to the influenza epidemic doing? What's the process for fixing death certificates so that they accurately list H1N1 after post-death tests, which can take up to eight weeks?
So, yes, I was more than a little irritated when I heard Olney say Tuesday night, on air, that you had declined the invitation to converse directly with me. But I'm moving on. Consider this my formal invitation to bring three of my colleagues from Neon Tommy to your offices sometime this week for a summit meeting. We can hash out your differences with our report, which was based on the 44 death certificates for Los Angeles county residents who died from the onset of the epidemic in April through Oct. 9.
In your segment you said the death toll has now reached 78 and that death certificates are not the appropriate way to gauge the nature of the virus in L.A. County. Your argument was that death certificates are "not fully accurate." I wholeheartedly agree with this fact, as 20 of the 44 swine flu death certificates issued by the county fail to mention the virus as a cause of death. Not fully accurate indeed.
I'm not overly concerned with legal jargon, but I am mildly curious about why your department, midway through the project, changed its legal position on releasing death certificates. In the future, your people told us that they would only provide us with certificates that initially list swine flu as one of the causes of death. Wouldn't that make any future reporting we do even more inaccurate, since many of the certificates initially do not blame H1N1 for the victims' deaths? This is very puzzling. Please help.
We all know that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the California Department of Health Services certainly think death counts are a good measurement, which is why they continue to require county health departments to report swine flu deaths every month.
In the end, these are minor issues. After listening to what you had to say, I realized we share many of the same goals: we both want people to take the H1N1 virus seriously and be properly informed on the risks and the situation in L.A. County.
It seems only fitting that the leading public health official in the county would have a conversation with Neon Tommy, the leading voice of the public on swine flu. We have much to gain by joining forces and helping to educate the public.
When we began this project, we hoped to put a human face on a global issue and hold public officials accountable for their actions. We've done that, and will continue to do so. The next phase of this story will benefit tremendously from an open and honest conversation.
Please contact me as soon as possible, and we'll set up a meeting this week.
Sincerely,
Callie Schweitzer
Reporter, Neon Tommy
Schweitzer and other Neon Tommy reporters have been unsuccessful in getting Fielding to explain L.A. County's procedures for tracking swine flu deaths. Fielding, the other guest on Which Way L.A. Tuesday night, declined to have a conversation with Schweitzer on the air.
Listen to the Which Way L.A. segment below and read Schweitzer's open letter to Fielding, in which she again requests an interview with the director of public health.
Neon Tommy reporter Callie Schweitzer on the Nov. 9 episode of Which Way L.A.
Dear Dr. Fielding,
Imagine my excitement when I learned today that you would be joining me in a discussion with Warren Olney on KCRW's Which Way, L.A.?
For the past month, I've been trying to get an interview with you - L.A. County's top health official - for the main story in a blow-out multimedia project about swine flu that we produced last week at Neon Tommy.
I wanted to ask you some of the remaining questions my colleagues and I have about L.A. County's response to the H1N1 epidemic: What is the process for hospitals and physicians reporting swine flu deaths? What exactly are the 2,000 health department workers devoted to the influenza epidemic doing? What's the process for fixing death certificates so that they accurately list H1N1 after post-death tests, which can take up to eight weeks?
So, yes, I was more than a little irritated when I heard Olney say Tuesday night, on air, that you had declined the invitation to converse directly with me. But I'm moving on. Consider this my formal invitation to bring three of my colleagues from Neon Tommy to your offices sometime this week for a summit meeting. We can hash out your differences with our report, which was based on the 44 death certificates for Los Angeles county residents who died from the onset of the epidemic in April through Oct. 9.
In your segment you said the death toll has now reached 78 and that death certificates are not the appropriate way to gauge the nature of the virus in L.A. County. Your argument was that death certificates are "not fully accurate." I wholeheartedly agree with this fact, as 20 of the 44 swine flu death certificates issued by the county fail to mention the virus as a cause of death. Not fully accurate indeed.
I'm not overly concerned with legal jargon, but I am mildly curious about why your department, midway through the project, changed its legal position on releasing death certificates. In the future, your people told us that they would only provide us with certificates that initially list swine flu as one of the causes of death. Wouldn't that make any future reporting we do even more inaccurate, since many of the certificates initially do not blame H1N1 for the victims' deaths? This is very puzzling. Please help.
We all know that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the California Department of Health Services certainly think death counts are a good measurement, which is why they continue to require county health departments to report swine flu deaths every month.
In the end, these are minor issues. After listening to what you had to say, I realized we share many of the same goals: we both want people to take the H1N1 virus seriously and be properly informed on the risks and the situation in L.A. County.
It seems only fitting that the leading public health official in the county would have a conversation with Neon Tommy, the leading voice of the public on swine flu. We have much to gain by joining forces and helping to educate the public.
When we began this project, we hoped to put a human face on a global issue and hold public officials accountable for their actions. We've done that, and will continue to do so. The next phase of this story will benefit tremendously from an open and honest conversation.
Please contact me as soon as possible, and we'll set up a meeting this week.
Sincerely,
Callie Schweitzer
Reporter, Neon Tommy
i do not understand why the director of public health would not welcome the opportunity to answer questions and give accurate information about the h1n1 virus to your readership. it makes me wonder what is being kept from us. this is a very important, time sensitive issue. hopefully, your persistence will convince dr. fielding to meet with you. good luck.
g.
@ member of the public: Thank you for bringing the mislabeling of H1N1 to our attention. It has been corrected in the story.
As Neon Tommy is the only outlet that has covered the human side of this issue, I'd say they are the leading voice. Public means people, not numbers. The story of an epidemic killing healthy people should be about just that--the people themselves, not the numbers.
"Neon Tommy's major reporting package on N1H1 and L.A. County's swine flu deaths"
There's no such thing as "N1H1".
"Neon Tommy, the leading voice of the public on swine flu"
Snort. You aren't my voice. Drop the self-inflated attitude and maybe he'll bother to meet with you.
Thanks so much for listening, Lester! We definitely hope to speak with Dr. Fielding as soon as possible! And when we do, the story will be posted here first, so keep checking back!
I heard this on Warren Olney's show. I find it disgusting that the County Health Director was too chicken to come on the air and directly debate the reporter. He insisted on being on alone. That's a pretty bad attitude as we face a possible pandemic. Keep up the pressure.