Ethics & corrections

Last updated: May 8, 2026.

Scrubswire reports on the people, institutions, and policies that shape healthcare in the United States. We hold ourselves to the standards of a wire service: every claim is sourced, every correction is public, and every relationship that could compromise our reporting is disclosed.

Sourcing

• Every factual claim in a Scrubswire article is attributed to a named source, an on-the-record document, or a clearly described category of source (“three Kaiser nurses on the medical-surgical floor,” “an internal CMS memo reviewed by Scrubswire”).
• We grant anonymity to sources only when there is a meaningful risk of retaliation, and only after the editor has confirmed identity and motive.
• We do not pay sources. We do not let sources preview articles before publication.
• Quotes are not edited for content, only lightly cleaned for grammar and to remove false starts. Substantive edits are flagged with brackets.

Verification

• Documents are independently verified before they are described as “obtained by Scrubswire.”
• Statistical claims are checked against the underlying dataset whenever the dataset is available. When it is not, we say so.
• Clinical claims are reviewed by an editor with relevant clinical training before publication.

Conflicts of interest

• Reporters and editors disclose financial relationships, family ties, and prior employment at any institution they cover.
• Disclosed conflicts are listed at the foot of the article, not buried in a separate page.
• Our owners’ interests are disclosed when they are relevant to a story.

Anonymous sources

We use anonymous sources sparingly and only when:

1. The information is consequential and not available elsewhere on the record.
2. The source has direct knowledge of the events described.
3. We can characterize the source’s role with enough specificity for the reader to evaluate the claim.

We do not grant anonymity to people repeating opinions or making accusations. We do not protect sources who lie to us.

Corrections

If we make a factual error, we correct it as quickly as possible. Corrections are posted at the foot of the article in italics, with the date and a short description of what was wrong and what changed. Substantive corrections — those that change the meaning of a story — are also linked from this page.

We do not silently change the text of a published article. The version history is preserved internally and may be requested.

To report an error, email corrections@scrubswire.com. Please include the article URL and the specific claim you are disputing.

Right of reply

Subjects of critical reporting are given a reasonable opportunity to respond before publication, with enough time to consult counsel or a press representative if they wish. Their response, in their own words, is included in the article.

Pseudonyms

We do not publish under pseudonyms. Every Scrubswire byline is the reporter’s real name. Op-eds are signed by the author or, in rare cases involving credible safety risks, run with an editor’s note describing why the byline is withheld.

Plagiarism and AI

Plagiarism — including the unattributed use of another publication’s reporting — is grounds for termination and the article will be retracted with an explanation.

Generative AI is not used to write Scrubswire articles. AI tools may be used by reporters for transcription, document search, or background research. AI-generated text never appears in published articles without that fact being disclosed in an editor’s note.

Editorial independence

Scrubswire is published by ViralMomentum LLC. Editorial decisions are made by the newsroom and are not subject to advertiser or sponsor approval. See our About page for the full structure.

Substantive corrections, by month

This list is updated whenever a meaningful correction is made. There are currently no entries.

— The Editors