Sunday, September 30, 2007

Word for Word

There’s an apparently plagiarized story in the today's Charlotte Sun’s health-news tab, “Feeling Fit.”

Michele Ritter, who is not listed on the newspaper’s staff directory as a writer or editor, is given as the author of an item that is identified as “Special to Feeling Fit,” and headlined “New colorectal surgical procedure performed at Fawcett Memorial Hospital.”

I suspect Ritter is a hospital a public relations person who was handed a press release written either by a manufacturer or the training staff at a large metropolitan hospital. I hope she didn’t troll the Web, as I did, looking for this item. However she obtained the article, she has no business putting her byline on the piece. In doing so, she tells me and other readers that she wrote it. She didn’t. Here’s my evidence.
We can start with a news release posted on the Web from the University of Cincinnati dated June 20, 2006. Ritter's item is posted at the Sun newspaper site.

The paragraph-by-paragraph comparison of the two documents is given below in full with no elisions. Nearly every word, including the local doctor’s quotes, were published more than a year ago in Ohio.

New colorectal surgical procedure performed at Fawcett Memorial Hospital
By Michelle Ritter
Special to Feeling Fit

Domingo Galliano, Jr., MD, FACS, FACRS recently became the first surgeon in Charlotte County to perform a transanal endoscopic microsurgical procedure, a minimally invasive method for removing rectal cancers that eliminates the need for external incisions.

This procedure is a safe alternative to open surgery for removing very early rectal cancers and polyps, the precancerous masses that form on the lining of the colon or rectum.

"TEM is a great alternative for many patients, especially those who might not be able to tolerate a big operation," explains Galliano, a colorectal surgeon at Fawcett Memorial Hospital. Galliano is not only board certified in colorectal surgery, but he is the only board-certified and fellowship-trained surgeon in Laparoscopic Colon Surgery in Charlotte County.

"The recovery time is minimal, and functional results -- namely bowel function and control -- are often better, so patients can return to their normal activities faster."

Here are the opening grafs of the Cincinnati hospital news release.


CINCINNATI—University of Cincinnati (UC) colorectal surgeons have become the first in the Tristate to perform a transanal endoscopic microsurgical (TEM) procedure, a minimally invasive method for removing rectal cancers that eliminates the need for external incisions.

Surgeons say the procedure is a safe alternative to open surgery for removing very early rectal cancers and polyps, the precancerous masses that form on the lining of the colon or rectum.

“TEM is a great alternative for certain patients, including those who might not be able to tolerate a big operation,” explains Bradley Davis, MD, an assistant professor of surgery at UC and a colorectal surgeon at Christ Hospital. “The recovery time is
minimal, and functional results—namely bowel function and control—are often better, so patients can return to their normal activities faster.”

Ritter's second section reports: It is estimated that approximately 26 centers, including Fawcett, perform this procedure. The technique is a minimally invasive method for operating inside the rectum using a fiber-optic light source, a camera and specialized instruments, eliminating the need for an external incision and leave no visible scarring.


"TEM allows surgeons to reach tumors deeper in the rectum," says Galliano. "It's very accurate, and cancer recurrence rates are typically as low as those achieved using other established methods."

University of Cincinnati’s Web page reads: The technique, known as “endoluminal surgery” is a minimally invasive method for operating inside the rectum using a fiber-optic light source, a camera and specialized instruments. Inserted through the anus, the instruments eliminate the need for an external incision and leave no visible scarring.

“TEM allows surgeons to reach tumors deeper in the rectum,” says Davis. “It’s very accurate, and cancer recurrence rates are typically as low as those achieved using other established methods.”

In the next section, Ritter writes: Traditional rectal surgery
often involves removing a large part of the rectum, which results in less room to store solid waste. This results in a decreased ability to "hold" feces and can even result in incontinence. The TEM procedure can help patients to avoid a temporary -- and sometimes permanent -- colostomy bag, a pouch connected to the bowel and worn outside the body to the collect waste that would normally pass through the digestive system.

"The important thing," stresses Galliano, "is that the patient is diagnosed and evaluated properly. TEM is only appropriate for polyp and very early cancer removal. More advanced cancers require a more aggressive treatment to completely eradicate the disease."

University of Cincinnati’s Web page reads: Traditional
“radical” rectal surgery often involves removing a large part of the rectum, which results in less room to store solid waste. This results in a decreased ability to “hold” feces and can even result in incontinence. Endoluminal surgery allows certain patients to avoid a temporary—and sometimes permanent—colostomy
bag, a pouch connected to the bowel and worn outside the body to the collect waste that would normally pass through the digestive system.

“The important thing,” stresses Davis, “is that the patient is diagnosed and evaluated properly. TEM is only appropriate for polyp and very early cancer removal. More advanced cancers require a more aggressive treatment to completely eradicate the disease.”

Moving along, Ritter writes: Before surgery, the patient is given spinal anesthesia and positioned on the side, back or stomach, depending where the tumor is located. Guided by a video monitor, the surgeon navigates a thin, flexible instrument equipped with a three-dimensional camera and light source at its tip -- through the anal canal to the tumor.

The bowel is inflated with gas to improve tumor visualization. Then, the surgeon detaches the tumor and a small section of surrounding tissue using a specialized electronic scalpel that simultaneously seals affected blood vessels. Once the tumor is removed, the rectal wall is cleansed and sutured.

The procedure takes about an hour, and patients are typically released from the hospital the next day.

University of Cincinnati’s Web page reads: Before surgery, the patient is given spinal anesthesia and positioned on the side, back or stomach, depending where the tumor is located. Guided by a video monitor, the surgeon navigates a “rectoscope”—a thin, flexible instrument equipped with a three-dimensional camera and light source at its tip—up through the anal canal to the tumor.

The bowel is inflated with gas to improve tumor visualization. Then, the surgeon detaches the tumor and a small section of surrounding tissue using a specialized electronic scalpel that simultaneously seals affected blood vessels. Once the tumor is removed through the anus, the rectal wall is cleansed and sutured.

The TEM procedure takes about an hour, and patients are typically released from the hospital the next day.

In winding up, Ritter writes: "This is revolutionary rectal surgery technology," says Vickie Pettigrew, director of surgical services at Fawcett. "It's an easy outpatient procedure with no incision and no pain."

"Patients have valid concerns about quality-of-life issues that result from radical rectal surgery," says Galliano. "TEM maximizes surgical effectiveness while minimizing the negative side effects, such as incontinence, that can cause both discomfort and embarrassment during recovery."

University of Cincinnati’s Web page reads: “Patients have valid concerns about quality-of-life issues that result from radical rectal surgery,” says Davis. “TEM maximizes surgical effectiveness while minimizing the negative side effects, such as incontinence, that can cause both discomfort and embarrassment during recovery.”

Plagiarism or no plagiarism?

2 comments:

  1. Yes, it's plagiarism. And, I think the newspaper editor should have discovered it.
    Jeff

    ReplyDelete
  2. According to Tim Harrower, author of Inside Reporting, news releases should be rewritten. "No matter how pressed you are for time, no matter how reliable the publicist is, do not print press releases verbatim," Harrower said. "Rewrite them to cut fluff and add balance, context and fairness."

    As an editor, I include press releases in my editorial fairly frequently. I may even use chunks of copy without editing. However, I don't byline those pieces.

    Plagiarism is a strong word. I'm pretty sure that the writer who generated the original press release was delighted to see it in print...regardless of whose byline appeared with it.

    Peggy S.

    ReplyDelete