The Mirror

Newsweek Writer Literally Married To His Story — And Doesn’t Admit It

Betsy Rothstein Gossip blogger
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Newsweek senior writer Kurt Eichenwald is under fire — and for good reason.

He’s refused to reveal a pointed conflict of interest in his stories about the American Board of Internal Medicine. While intent on smearing the organization, his stories have not disclosed that his wife, Theresa Eichenwald, a Dallas internist, has struggled to pass ABIM’s recertification test. (After publication, Kurt told The Daily Caller that she struggled with ABIM’s “online home practice tests.”)

In March, Kurt Eichenwald wrote a story for Newsweek. It was a blistering attack on the American Board of Internal Medicine.

“Are physicians in the United States getting dumber?” he asks in the lede. “That is what one of the most powerful medical boards is suggesting, according to its critics.”

Eichenwald discussed the precise issue that his wife faces — the alleged tens of thousands of doctors that he says have been “forced” by the ABIM to do the “busywork” involved in test taking that only serves to “fatten the board’s bloated coffers.”

But he doesn’t reveal that his wife Theresa Eichenwald is among those doctors who’ve struggled with the test. She was initially certified by the ABIM in 1993, according to the board’s website. But she is presently listed as “not certified.”

Basic journalism ethics would dictate that this would have been a fitting time to mention that fact.

He reported that the test has started including questions that don’t pertain to a physician’s job.

His story included statistics: the percentage of doctors who passed the test dropped from 88 percent to 80 percent between 2010 and 2014. Mrs. Eichenwald was ABIM certified until 2014, Mr. Eichenwald told TheDC.

“All they are proving is that I am not a good test taker,” Theresa wrote in a Facebook post about the ABIM test in February.

Theresa first relayed that the ABIM is changing its certification test.

“ABIM (American Board of Internal Medicine) sent out an email ‘We got it wrong, we are sorry’, meaning that the requirements for recertification are absurd and do not reflect how good a physician you are. Thank god, I thought that I needed to quit. Just joking, but one starts to doubt oneself.”

Asked in the post what she meant, she replied, “It means they are changing the test — but not till Fall of 2015. It means that the recertification for Internal Medicine was absurd and that they have to rethink the process. Physicians staged a mutiny and petitioned to make the change. You don’t need to be certified in Internal Medicine, you have surgery, which may be equally stupid.”

Theresa Eichenwald blames her poor test-taking skills for her failure to pass the test (the “practice” one, according to Kurt):

“All they are proving is that I am not a good test taker. Also that the bizarre and esoteric is more important than the day to day medicine. I have not been in an ICU in years and I plan to say ‘call the specialist’ when faced with some of the test questions.”

Almost a month after the first story, Eichenwald revealed in a follow-up opinion column that “my wife is an internist,” but did not disclose her history with ABIM.

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In reaction to Kurt Eichenwald’s first Newsweek piece, ABIM Chair David Johnson MD released a statement to the media: Eichenwald “failed to disclose that his wife is an internist.”

Perhaps Eichenwald should blame his epilepsy?

In a 2007 report on NPR, noted by Peter Heimlich in The Sidebar in April, Eichenwald admitted that his condition has caused severe “memory disruptions.” (Heimlich, by the way, is indeed related to the famous Henry Heimlich who invented the Heimlich Maneuver. Henry is Peter’s father.)

In May 2015, Eichenwald followed up on his original ABIM story with another skewering report on the organization in Newsweek. This one digs into ABIM’s financials with the IRS. He calls them a “work of trickery.”

In this story, like the last, he blasts the organization’s recertification process that doctors must go through. While the lede is about financial reports to the IRS, the next 10 paragraphs are about that allegedly despicable recertification process.

“Without the ABIM seal of approval, lots of internists and subspecialists can’t get jobs and can’t admit patients to hospitals,” he wrote.

As a result of his stories, he claimed the ABIM began “investigating” him. “I can attest to the ABIM’s pomposity,” he wrote.

Eventually, Eichenwald returns to those financial reports from his lede. He goes deep into the weeds of the numbers. In 23 paragraphs, he accuses them of everything from being deeply in the red — to the tune of $48 million — to not claiming money they spent on lobbying, to calling on Congress to come after ABIM.

He asserts that ABIM President Rich Baron has taken his investigations personally.

“After the ABIM investigated me, he attacked me publicly for not revealing the ‘conflict’ that I am married to a doctor, thus suggesting that anyone connected to physicians would automatically oppose the ABIM,” he wrote, addressing the matter of his wife.

The reporter concluded his piece like this: “Most important, it is time for doctors to grow a backbone: Organize yourselves and boycott the recertification process en masse.”

Eichenwald’s reasoning on why he didn’t include proper disclosures about his wife is stunning.

“The argument is akin to saying that I can’t write about politics because I voted,” he told Medscape Medical News in March, adding, “Shouldn’t being married to an internist make me pro-ABIM?”

Referring to ABIM chair David Johnson, he threatened anyone who suggests that there is a conflict here.

“I don’t react to bullies well,” he said. “When they’re bullying my family, I hit back.”

Eichenwald also had caustic responses to questions from Heimlich about his wife’s re-certification issues.

“Anyone obtuse enough to believe that my wife being a doctor is a story is not worth talking to and is merely someone too lazy to do actual reporting on real issues.

But I’ll make this easy for you: My brother is a doctor, and so was my father. My mother was a nurse. My best friend is a doctor. My sister-in-law is a nurse. I have a doctor. I also like her very much. So I guess medicine is off the table.

And in the event I ever write about the judicial system: A friend of mine who saved my life is a judge. Law’s out too, I guess. My son is a wildlife biologist who studies the effects of climate change on species – so, guess that’s out too.”

When pressed further, Eichenwald doubled down on his wife’s irrelevance to his story.

“I am not participating in a story written by someone who believes that dragging the reporter’s wife into it is ethical. …My wife never knows what I am writing nor does she make any contribution to anything I write – ever. This is in the event of litigation to be sure she doesn’t get dragged into it.”

Eichenwald then went full bore against ABIM with an air of mystery. 

“The illogic here is so obvious, and the fact that you are just operating off a series of false assumptions – one of which leads to such an obvious question you have never asked me, the answer to which undermines the entire thesis of your piece – that I recognize there is nothing that will give you pause. If I ever decide to reveal that answer — which I will only do if ABIM manages to trick enough fools into continuing to drag my wife into this — I will be sure to mention you never asked so people can all have a good laugh.”

Asked for comment on the recertification process and Eichenwald’s claims that it’s unnecessary and gouges doctors, ABIM President Rich Baron told The Mirror that the organization is working to improve it.

“Maintenance of Certification is a process that supports physicians in their commitment to stay current in their fields, and as a credential that demonstrates to their peers and the public that they are staying current in knowledge and standards of care,” he said. “We know it can be improved and are working with the community to make it better.”

When asked to address the claims by Eichenwald that ABIM did not properly disclose lobbying efforts to the IRS, ABIM spokeswoman Lorie Slass said the organization has been transparent.

“ABIM is proud of its efforts to ensure that physicians meet high quality standards while simultaneously minimizing overly burdensome and duplicative reporting requirements,” she said. “ABIM has been very supportive of public policies that enable physicians who participate in Maintenance of Certification (MOC) to fulfill other reporting requirements by doing so. ABIM has been transparent about these efforts and complies with the Internal Revenue Code and Internal Revenue Service rules applicable to organizations that are exempt from tax under Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(3), including the rules regarding lobbying activities by such organizations.”

ABIM declined to discuss Eichenwald’s coverage. When pressed, Slass told The Mirror, “ABIM has no comments on Mr. Eichenwald.”

Eichenwald did not return an email request for comment. (Update: See his comments below.)

Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time that Eichenwald has failed to disclose a conflict in his reporting.

In 2005, while working for the NYT, he covered the story of Justin Berry, who lived in a world of an online child porn ring. Berry was reportedly both a victim and perpetrator. At the time, Eichenwald and his wife donated $3100 to Berry. He failed to tell his editors. At the time his defense was that he was trying to help pull Berry out of the pit of child porn.

Somehow the payments just slipped his mind.

UPDATE: Eichenwald took his sweet time getting back to me. Despite giving him three hours to respond for a 4 p.m. deadline, he began firing comments to The Mirror at 4:22.

“The answer to your question is quite simple: My wife has no connection to the ABIM, nor does she ever plan to, nor does she want one. The first piece was about an uprising among prominent internists, which I read about in a medical newspaper because it was news. I then did a google search and saw this news was being reported in medical publications all over the place. All of the information in my piece, as was clear, came from some of the most prominent doctors in the field – the same ones quoted in other pieces.”

Asked for clarification on his wife’s so-called lack of involvement with ABIM — she has no involvement because she failed the test, right? — and whether she ever plans to get recertified, he replied, “What I know is she is not certified with them and doesn’t want to be.” (Which doesn’t really answer my questions, but fine, we’ll go with his weak answer.)

“My wife didn’t even know I was writing about it, nor did I consult her ahead of time about the details of where and how she was certified. Contrary to popular opinion, my wife and I don’t sit around talking about certification – I also know nothing about her license, how she is registered with the DEA (I assume she is) or anything else. So, I assume you’re saying I should have disclosed her non-relationship with an organization that I didn’t know about?

“I’m quite perplexed how the mere fact that she is a doctor somehow creates a conflict, particularly given that I have written about hospitals, medical research and healthcare issues since the late 1990s. Feel free to explain the answer in your piece.

“One more point…I mention my wife is an internist in every other piece I write. Even though, as I wrote the first time I said it, it’s silly, although I did also mention every other person I have any connection to in medicine.”

Editor’s note: The fact that his wife is a doctor is not the signature indicator of a conflict — it’s that she’s subject to the very certification he’s writing about, and has admitted in public that she struggled with the test.

This article was updated after publication to include information provided by and reaction from Kurt Eichenwald.