Melody Petersen is an investigative reporter covering healthcare and business for the Los Angeles Times. Previously, she wrote about the pharmaceutical industry for the New York Times. She won a Loeb award for reporting on Pacific Gas & Electric at the San Jose Mercury News. She has also written for the Orange County Register and the Philadelphia Inquirer. She’s the author of “Our Daily Meds,” a book about the drug industry. She’s a former certified public accountant and grew up on an Iowa farm. Send her tips securely on Signal at (213) 327-8634.
Latest From This Author
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A start-up quickly ramped up testing in Los Angeles. But questions remain. For one: the oral-based approach is not the one preferred by the Food and Drug Administration.
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State health officials have ramped up coronavirus testing, but California still is behind most other states, leaving undiagnosed patients to unknowingly spread the infections.
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Coronavirus tests pile up at labs, extending wait times for results
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California’s official numbers show its coronavirus testing rate is well behind New York and other states where the virus has hit hardest.
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A week after Trump promised a massive expansion of free coronavirus testing, the commercial labs tasked with the effort say they need funding to meet the rapidly rising demand.
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Test kits that the CDC sent to state and local labs to do their own screening had a flaw that caused inaccurate results. Officials say they have made changes.
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A company that procures body parts from the deceased in the Los Angeles County morgue will begin preserving evidence in death investigations by taking photos of bodies, the county’s chief medical examiner-coroner told the board of supervisors Tuesday.
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In internal complaints, emails and other documents, pathologists, investigators and other coroner employees detailed how procurement interfered with their work.
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Regulators have disregarded warnings to stop licensing devices containing radioactive cesium. Hundreds are in use, and the risk has grown, an L.A. Times investigation has found.
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In an attempt to stop patients from being infected by lethal superbugs, federal regulators approved a disposable medical scope.