Pitch Clinic, week 3
I am reviewing pitches sent by freelancers. As a reminder, if you want to send one my way to get feedback, please email jessica dot reed at theguardian dot com with the subject PITCH CLINIC. Or write it here on Medium and tag it #PITCHCLINIC. Your submission will remain anonymous.
PITCH NUMBER 3
Hi, Jessica, I hope you’re well. I’m pitching a feature story for The Guardian.
Every doctor has to deal with ethical dilemmas, of course. It’s a key part of medical education and training, and is at the center of most general-interest literature about medicine. But many hospitals also have what are called “consulting ethicists.” These are people who are in hospitals for when a doctor wants to consult someone about an ethical decision that needs to be made. Sometimes they’re retired doctors, but in many cases, they don’t even necessarily have medical degrees.
Yes yes yes, I love stories about ethics and health. Please continue.
I want to report on a scene on a scenario where a doctor needs to consult an ethicist. What happens so that a doctor can’t trust his or her own judgement and needs to talk to a professional philosopher? How does that work when they have only minutes or even seconds to make a decision that could end or change someone’s life?
Yes! Love that stuff. There’s suspense, there’s thrill, there’s life or death issues. But I’m not sure ethicists would have a part to play in split-second decisions — no matter, we can talk about the ethics training doctors get, and what they have to rely on when they’re on their own.
The article would also be interesting because it would be reporting on a career and subject seldom discussed but which I think many people would find fascinating.
Sure
I already have two available sources who I can talk to for the article. One is Renee McLeod-Sordjan, the Director of the Consult Service at the North Shore-LIJ medical group in New York. The other is Hollis Boyd, who works as a consulting ethicist at a hospital in Philadelphia.
Yep, cool. Would be good if you could tell me why you chose those people, and why they’re the best people to talk to for this piece
As for writing experience, I’ve written over 100 articles, including many features, for Entertainment Weekly, where I interned that summer. I was also the editor of the features section of Pipe Dream, the student paper at Binghamton University, where I’ve written more articles than anyone else in my section’s history, and I’ve worked at numerous other media companies. If you’d like writing samples, a resume, or references, please let me know.
A little alarm goes off here because you seem to tell me you’re an entertainment writer. This doesn’t mean you can write about science and ethics, but it’s a big fat leap. I think I would feel nervous giving that assignment to someone I’ve never commissioned before and who is not (yet?) a bonafide science writer. I am, however, happy to be convinced.But a feature is a big thing, with a lot of reporting, so I want to trust my writers’ credentials (I am not saying you don’t have them — just that it doesn’t tick all the boxes, especially since “numerous other media companies” doesn’t tell me much).
PITCH GRADE: B
Why I liked about this pitch: I love the subject matter. Potential for great writing and story telling if you can find the characters and stories that make it a lively read, and not a boring one.
What I didn’t like about this pitch: You don’t have the most important thing: a case study and/or a human story. Go back to me with something like: “Doctor Smith was treating Dimitri, a 7 year old kid with Jehovah Witness parents who did not want him to get a blood transfusion. Without it, he was going to die. Smith had to consult ethicists, and this is how it went down”. (So basically, do a bit of homework).
Would I publish it? No right now, for the reasons cited above. I really, really like the topic though…
PS. read this piece, it’s amazing and related to what you want to write
