Sunday, December 28, 2008

Plagiarism Operates at Fawcett Hospital

There's a new way to treat heartburn in our little town. Local physician Alvaro Bada says this about it: This procedure can significantly improve quality of life for our patients. Many reflux patients are unable to drink carbonated beverages, caffeine or eat rich foods or fruit without triggering reflux.

Strangely enough, Dr. William E. Kelly Jr. at Henrico (Virginia) Doctors' Hospital, describes the same procedure this way: EsophyX can signficantly improve quality of life for our patients. Many reflux patients are unable to drink carbonated beverages, caffeine or eat rich foods or fruit without triggering reflux.

And amazingly, Dr. Paul Cirangle of San Francisco explains the procedure like this: EsophyX can signficantly improve quality of life for our patients. Many reflux patients are unable to drink carbonated beverages, caffeine or eat rich foods or fruit without triggering reflux.

Back in our town, Bada's partner, Domingo Galliano, adds to the discussion: Recent studies of EsophyX have shown that the procedure can reduce patients' dependence on medications with 80 percent of patients remaining symptom free after two years and experiencing a dramatic improvement in their quality of life. We are very excited to be able to offer our patiewnts the same incredible benefits with minimal risk.

But Kelley in Virginia "said" it first, back on June 23: Recent studies of EsophyX have shown that the procedure can reduce patients' dependence on meedications with 80 perc ent of patients remaining symptom free after two years and experiencing a dramatic improvement in their quality of life. We are very excited to be able to offer our patiewnts the same incredible benefits with minimal risk.

Even the San Francisco doctor said it more than a month before the local guys got around to saying it: Recent studies of EsophyX have shown that the procedure can reduce patients' dependence on meedications with 80 perc ent of patients remaining symptom free after two years and experiencing a dramatic improvement in their quality of life. We are very excited to be able to offer our patiewnts the same incredible benefits with minimal risk.

There's quite a bit more, but you get the picture.

So, what's so bad about this obvious marketeering? Michelle Ritter, the local writer, put her name on the story and failed to use quotes or attributions; doing so tells Charlotte Sun newspaper readers she wrote it. That's clearly a lie for which there is a specific name: plagiarism. But the plagiarist doesn't sully only her own reputation; she draws others into the journalistic muck.


Ritter puts prefabricated quotes into the mouths of the local doctors, as if they had really said those things.

And Feeling Fit editor Jennifer Wadsworth publishes the fake as a news feature, probably unaware that Ritter is now a three-time winner in the 2008 plagiarism scorecard.

All in all, about a full third of the wordage Ritter claims as her own has a common source with the public relations writers for hospitals in Virginia and California. Old Word Wolf suspects a manufacturer's brochure or news release. At least the California and Virginia practitioners distributed generic notices, possessing an ethical compass that steered them away from claiming the words and work of others as their personal productions.
In other medical news, the Lake Placid Journal's edition of Feeling Fit wants readers to recognize the herb known as St. John's Wort. Here is the identification.

1 comment:

  1. I am a subscriber (soon to be former) to the North Port Sun, which is basically the Charlotte Sun but isn't because SCMG says it isn't by putting "North Port Sun" at the top of the paper.

    It's not fair to the car dealers, money lenders and rent to own centers that they can't have their own articles also.

    Why can't we find out how easy it is to buy a new car at 14 percent interest at sticker price than driving all over and haggling for the best price.

    And why can't we learn how easy it is to go to a cash advance store and borrow money every week to spend more than we earn at a mere 385 percent annual interest rate.

    And someone from a rental center should tell us in an "article" how renting a 32" TV for 52 weeks at a cost of only $24.95 a week ($1297.40 total) is better than buying one for $200.

    Newspapers without objective journalism would be easier and better for business. And what's good for business is what's good for America.
    Excuse me now, I must go. Meeting DDR at the Yacht Club for lunch aboard his yacht, The S.S. Minnow.

    Ritter's "article" is associated with a press release she issued on 8/22/08. Fawcett is owned by Hospital Corp of America, who if you check their website, are touting this surgery through hospitals they own in 20 states and the United Kingdom.

    http://www.fawcetthospital.com/CustomPage.asp?guidCustomContentID={C17A5567-220F-463D-94C6-AE7212B4DC50}

    DDR and son should at least charge them for the space. Special this week, buy one Advertorial — get one free.

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