California legislators are considering a bill to strip the California Medical Board of its powers to investigate problem physicians. Should the board discipline doctors or should the attorney general? Also, would it matter if the Koch brothers buy the Tribune Company, which includes the L. A. Times, and should doctors tell patients they're terminally ill? Then, our film critics review this week's releases, and Academy Award-winning director William Friedkin gives a behind the scenes look at his life.
Lawmakers want to strip the California Medical Board’s power to investigate physicians
California legislators are considering a bill to strip the California Medical Board of its powers to investigate problem physicians. The board has been criticized for failing to properly discipline doctors who are accused of harming patients, including recklessly prescribing painkillers.
The bill, co-authored by Sen. Curren Price (D-Los Angeles) and Assemblyman Richard Gordon (D-Menlo Park) would hand the power to investigate and discipline doctors to the California attorney general, leaving the board to deal mostly with licensing doctors. Medical board President Sharon Levine has not yet commented on the legislation.
Guests:
Senator Curren D. Price, Jr., sponsored legislation to have the Medical Board’s powers removed; Senator Price represents the 26th district, which covers much of Los Angeles.
Henry Fenton, founding partner at the healthcare law firm Fenton Nelson LLC
Koch Brothers eyeing Tribune Company
The Tribune company, which owns many large media brands, is emerging from bankruptcy and considering selling its newspaper division, which includes, among other important U.S. dailies, the Los Angeles Times.
Billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, who are unabashed libertarians, are reportedly looking into purchasing the Tribune’s papers valued at $623 million. The thought of the Kochs and the Times linked together has had commentators speculating all week on how the sale could effect the fourth-largest newspaper in America, and this morning, NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik reported on the possibility of a sale.
Reason Editor Matt Welch, a former Los Angeles Times employee, told Folkenflik: “It would be such a culture clash, inevitably, between them and the newsroom there that it would be kind of open conflict for a long time. I would have a hard time imagining how they get out of that, how they calm that down in a productive way.”
Folkenflik reports that so far there is no official confirmation that the Koch’s are interested in buying the papers, and why would they be? Newspapers aren’t exactly gold mines these days, and the papers would be only a drop in the Koch’s revenue pipeline--the brothers businesses bring in a reported $115 billion annually.
So why are they interested? The brothers have been major donors to libertarian causes, and naturally many people are speculating that they will use these newspapers to spread their views. Others argue that changing the political tone of a paper like the LA Times is impossible, as its readers will simply flee.
So if the Koch brothers actually buy the paper, what will happen? Is this a subversive political move, or just another business venture? Furthermore, who else is bidding for the papers? And could a sale, regardless of buyer, trigger more cuts in a business that has seen its budgets slashed year after year?
Guest:
David Folkenflik, NPR media correspondent
Doctors debate telling patients they are terminally ill
It’s probably one of the toughest conversations doctors have to have with their patients: how to tell someone that he or she has a terminal illness. The latest issue of BMJ, an online medical journal, has turned the very topic on its head, by asking several doctors whether physicians should even tell their patients that they are terminally ill.
Proponents say information is power, that patients need to have that knowledge so they could make more informed medical and end-of-life decisions. Opponents counter by saying that the concept of “terminal illness” is not clearly defined and that prognoses can never be certain, so doctors could sometimes be doing patients more of a disservice by telling them that they are going to die.
Should doctors tell patients they are terminally ill? Would it make things easier, or harder? Do patients have a right to that information? How might they approach life differently?
Guests:
Peter Ubel, Physician at Duke University and author of “Critical Decisions: How You and Your Doctor Can Make the Right Medical Choices Together” (Harper Collins, 2012)
Leslie Blackhall, Physician and Section Chief, Palliative Medicine at the University of Virginia School of Medicine
FilmWeek: Mud, Pain and Gain, The Big Wedding, and more
Larry is joined by KPCC film critics Tim Cogshell and Lael Loewenstein to review the week’s new film releases, including Mud, Pain and Gain, The Big Wedding and more. TGI-FilmWeek!
Mud
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Pain and Gain
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The Big Wedding
Guests:
Tim Cogshell, film critic for KPCC and Alt Film Guide
Lael Loewenstein, film critic for KPCC and Variety
Friedkin looks back on 'The French Connection,' 'The Exorcist' and life
Academy Award-winning director William Friedkin is out with a new book chronicling his rise from a poor urban neighborhood the the height of Hollywood elite.
Director of "The French Connection" and "The Exorcist," Friedkin gives readers a behind the scenes look at how his films came to life - from how the Exorcist's demon voice was created to whom he considered for the lead role of Popeye.
Guest:
William Friedkin, director of "The French Connection" and "The Exorcist" and more