Doctors and Sex Abuse

Doctors & Sex Abuse merges old-line sleuthing with data journalism and multimedia storytelling for a damning report on how doctors who have sexually violated patients are often given a pass by the very boards and agencies charged with regulating them. The series, prompted by an investigation of orders of the Georgia Composite Medical Board by reporter Danny Robbins, found that a surprising number of doctors in the state who had sexually violated patients were allowed to continue practicing. The newspaper widened the scope of its investigation—hiring a legal researcher and developing a computer program to explore the issue nationwide—in the end discovering that offenses are often kept off the record and disciplinary actions hidden from the public. Through multimedia storytelling, vivid illustrations, and an intuitive interface, this extensive report offers a new standard for investigative journalism as the field increasingly shifts to digital spaces.