Editorial

Mishawaka Marian wins second-straight state soccer title

October 29, 2016

Mishawaka Marian Providence State Championship — Mishawaka Marian’s Johnathan Tavarez (8) celebrates after scoring a goal against Providence during the IHSAA Class A Boys Soccer State Championship Game on Saturday, Oct. 29, 2016, at Carroll Stadium in Indianapolis. Marian won 4-0. (James Brosher for South Bend Tribune)

Syrian refugees in Indiana

October 4, 2016

Back in August, I photographed Syrian refugees who have resettled in Indiana for a story in The Washington Post. Their resettlement comes in spite of efforts by Indiana Gov. Mike Pence who directed state agencies to halt Syrian resettlement. This week a federal appeals court affirmed a preliminary injunction blocking Pence’s order, dismissing it as “nightmare speculation.”

Malak Assaf, 25, poses for a photo in her apartment in Indianapolis, Ind. on Thursday, Aug. 18, 2016. Assaf is a refugee from the war in Syria. (James Brosher for The Washington Post)

Patient surveys and the opioid epidemic

August 31, 2016

I spent a few hours back in June shadowing Dr. S. Michael Keller, the emergency room director at Marion General Hospital in Marion, Ind. The photos were for a story in The New York Times about patient satisfaction surveys and their effect on the opioid epidemic. Under the Affordable Care Act, hospitals’ Medicare reimbursements were tied to patient satisfaction surveys. The idea of this was to encourage quality care, but many health care professionals argue the surveys incentivized doctors to prescribe powerful and potentially addictive painkillers such as opioids to patients in order to score well on the surveys. Marion General bucked the trend by cutting opioid prescriptions, leading to a drastic drop in the patient satisfaction surveys.

Dr. S. Michael Keller, director of Marion General Hospital’s emergency department and ambulance services, examines William Joseph, a patient from Van Buren, Ind., in the Emergency Room on Wednesday, June 15, 2016, in Marion, Ind. Marion General Hospital urged its doctors to limit opioid prescriptions resulting in lowered patient satisfaction scores, particularly in pain management. As part of the Affordable Care Act, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) incentivizes quality care by rewarding hospitals that score well on patient satisfaction surveys. (James Brosher for The New York Times)

Dr. S. Michael Keller, director of Marion General Hospital’s emergency department and ambulance services, speaks with Deseric Inman, a patient from Marion, Ind. experiencing eye discomfort, in the Emergency Room on Wednesday, June 15, 2016, in Marion, Ind. (James Brosher for The New York Times)

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Shortage of primary-care physicians in the United States

May 30, 2016

A few weeks back, I spent a morning doing rounds with a group of pediatric residents in the postpartum unit at Franciscan St. Francis Hospital in Indianapolis. The photos were for a story in the Desert News looking at the shortage of primary-care physicians – which include family doctors, general internists and pediatricians – in the United States. The supply of primary-care physicians is so low the average wait time for an appointment is nearly two months.

Gerold Butler, Ninah Clegg, Evan Catteron — Ninah Clegg, a third-year medical student from Marian University, consults Dr. Gerold Butler, a pediatric hospitalist, as she examines Evan Catterton, a 16-day-old newborn from Brown County, Ind., on Thursday, April 28, 2016, at Franciscan St. Francis Hospital in Indianapolis. (James Brosher / For the Deseret News)

Dr. Ryan Taylor, a first-year resident from Chicago, listens to Dr. Gerold Butler, not pictured, a pediatric hospitalist, as they speak with a patient during rounds on Thursday, April 28, 2016, at Franciscan St. Francis Hospital in Indianapolis. (James Brosher / For the Deseret News)

Parenting in the United States without paid maternity leave

May 24, 2016

Earlier this year, I photographed a few mothers in Bloomington for an Al Jazeera story about the absence of paid maternity leave in the United States. The U.S. is the only industrialized nation without some form of paid maternity leave after childbirth.