Hospital Staff Performs Cut-and-Paste Operation

This morning, “Feeling Fit” presents its weekly dose of plagiarism. The by-line is Danielle Dreher's. She's Charlotte Regional Medical's marketing director. The subject is Dr. Mark Davis’s partial-knee replacement services. The editor is Dawn Krebs, who has abdicated any responsibility for monitoring her patient.

What none of these professionals seem to understand about cut-and-paste journalism is that readers, upon discovering the cheat, will question the good doctor’s qualifications and the reliability of their news sources.

One hallmark of professionals is their ability to write and speak fluently about complex endeavors in their fields. Copying from other writers without attribution tells readers these people cannot, for whatever reason, articulate basic information about their professions. It also says they don't know how to acknowledge other's contributions to their efforts.

Readers, upon perceiving the plagiarism, have a right to question the ethics of everyone involved. Plagiarism is a form of lying and cheating. When healthcare associates and journalists conspire to cheat on a 700-word puff piece, will they also cheat when providing other services and then lie about those as well?

Readers cannot be properly skeptical of newspaper reports when the real source is hidden behind a professional’s byline. If medical information is honestly sourced, readers can better gauge the information’s veracity and quality.

Here are the side-by-side comparison Web pages – which Editor Krebs could have found with a 60-second Google search.

My Rapid Recovery dot com [...] Unlike total knee replacement involving removal of all the knee joint surfaces, a partial knee replacement replaces only one side of the knee joint. Knee osteoarthritis usually occurs first in the medial (inside) compartment as this side of the knee bears most of the weight. In knees that are otherwise healthy, a partial approach allows the outer compartment and all ligaments to remain intact. By retaining all of the undamaged parts, the joint may bend better and function more naturally.

In a healthy knee, the meniscus serves as a shock absorber between the ends of the bones. The Oxford® Knee is the first partial implant with an artificial meniscal bearing designed to glide freely throughout the knee's range of motion, more closely replicating normal movement. The free floating nature of the device also improves durability of the implant.

Danielle Dreher for Dr. Mark Davis: Unlike total knee replacement involving removal of all the knee joint surfaces, a partial knee replacement replaces only one side of the knee joint. Knee osteoarthritis usually occurs first in the medial (inside) compartment, as this side of the knee bears most of the weight. In knees that are otherwise healthy, a partial approach allows the outer compartment and all the ligaments to remain intact.

By retaining all of the healthy parts, the joint may function more naturally. In a healthy knee, the meniscal cartileage serves as a shock absorber between the ends of the bones. This impant has an artificial meniscal bearing designed to glide freely throughout the knee’s range of motion to more closely replicate normal movement. The free floating nature of the device also greatly improves durability of the impant.

Mon Vally Hospital dot com The Oxford® Uni Partial Knee is the first partial implant with an artificial meniscal bearing insert, designed to glide freely throughout the knee’s range of motion to more closely replicate normal knee mechanics.

In a healthy knee, the meniscus (cartilage) serves as a shock absorber between the ends of the bones. Dr. Brockmeyer said, “The Oxford® Uni Partial Knee provides the patient with a more natural feeling and if it is properly implanted, the patient could have 15-20 years of good quality function. Wear and tear of this specially designed cobalt chromium molybdemum alloy is relatively low. The free floating nature of the device also improves durability of the implant.”

Biomet In a healthy knee, the meniscus serves as a shock absorber between the ends of the bones. The Oxford® Partial knee is the first partial implant with an artificial meniscal bearing designed to glide freely throughout the knee's range of motion, more closely replicating normal movement. The free floating nature of the device potentially provides for a more natural feeling knee.

The evidence that at least three (Old World Wolf actually found seven sites with nearly identical language)Web sites used such similar wording suggests that all have a common source -- most likely a product-information sheet or patient-information brochure from the manufacturer. And yes indeed, that manufacturer supplied the information and is delighted to have it reproduced and distributed by any means possible. But the manufacturer's agenda does not make plagiarism right.

What's the solution? Attribution, quote marks or paraphrases. It's so simple to do it right.