Modern Healthcare Letters
Below are letters to Modern Healthcare in response to an article from its November 2, 2009 issue that highlighted a few patient stories. For full access you need a subscription.
My Letter
… not the norm
Thank you for continuing to highlight the dedication of patients and families who have been preventably injured in the healthcare system. Why, however, is it the same stories that are told over and over again?
There is a disconnect in the patient-safety realm that pushed forward the concept that in reaching out to a hospital or institution that has caused iatrogenic injury to a loved one, there will be a welcome reception and lead to an ongoing productive relationship. Unfortunately, the experience of these few is still not the norm. There continues to be a huge group of marginalized individuals, patients and families. There should be more coverage of the stories of the masses who are trying to make a difference, which is evidence that medical errors are much more common than the public thinks. It will also help to steer hospitals that have not been receptive to working with patients and families to do so. And, ultimately, medical malpractice confidentiality clauses that forbid sharing of the aspects of care and providers who caused injury will be done away with. Their need will be obsolete.
Patient advocates have as much responsibility to other advocates as they do to the hospitals they return to work with.
And what of the families who do not settle?I walked away from a $750,000 offer with a confidentiality clause settlement in the med-mal wrongful death case of my son, James. His records are public, and I have spoken and written about his care and my subsequent journey, which includes personal conversations with his doctors post-verdict.
I have reached out personally on a number of occasions to the hospital's leadership to work collaboratively. I would like to hear about how to engage hospitals and providers that work with patients and families absent of a settlement agreement. Since that is what most people experience, there is where we can make the most impact.
Mary Ellen Mannix
Wayne, Pa.
Other Letters Printed in response to same article:
… reference, check …
Thanks so much for these two articles that show great tragedy, courage and learning. They are powerful and important contributions to guide doing the right and respectful thing from the start. The Institute for Healthcare Improvement has just added to its Web site a new collection of resources to help organizations dealing with tragic and high-profile sentinel events.
The next time I update the Effective Crisis Management Bibliography, it will include these two references.
Jim Conway
Senior vice president
Institute for Healthcare Improvement
Cambridge, Mass
*"high profile" - that statement by Mr Conway should alarm everyone. Resources to help tragic and HIGH profile sentinel events." What defines a tragic sentinel event as "high profile"?
Keep 'em coming …
Many thanks on your continued efforts to highlight these advocates (“Changing course,” Nov. 2, p. 6, and “From tragedy to advocacy,” Sept. 7, p. 6). Helen Haskell, Dale Ann Micalizzi, Susan Sheridan and Martin Hatlie have been well-known to me for many years, and I think very highly of them.
I am a patient-safety advocate in Houston. It's going to take a lot more stories like this to start changing history and changing the culture. The more you learn about the healthcare system, the more you realize the patient really doesn't matter! Keep the articles coming.
Lisa Lindell
Houston
… powerful advocates …
Our experience with patients harmed by medical errors, and those whose loved ones who have been subjected to medical harm, proves they can be powerful and effective advocates. Thousands of these individuals, (including Helen Haskell, mentioned in your series) have contacted Consumers Union's Safe Patient Project with their stories of loved ones lost to medication error, hospital-acquired infections and other medical mistakes.
They work with us in state capitals and national forums to shine a light on medical harm, and to enact laws and change medical practices to implement the Institute of Medicine's recommendations, turning their grief into activism. They will be joining us Nov. 17 in Washington or via webcast for a forum to strengthen and grow the patient-safety movement, with a keynote by former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill.
Lisa McGiffert
Campaign manager
Safe Patient Project
Consumers Union
Austin, Texas
My Letter
… not the norm
Thank you for continuing to highlight the dedication of patients and families who have been preventably injured in the healthcare system. Why, however, is it the same stories that are told over and over again?
There is a disconnect in the patient-safety realm that pushed forward the concept that in reaching out to a hospital or institution that has caused iatrogenic injury to a loved one, there will be a welcome reception and lead to an ongoing productive relationship. Unfortunately, the experience of these few is still not the norm. There continues to be a huge group of marginalized individuals, patients and families. There should be more coverage of the stories of the masses who are trying to make a difference, which is evidence that medical errors are much more common than the public thinks. It will also help to steer hospitals that have not been receptive to working with patients and families to do so. And, ultimately, medical malpractice confidentiality clauses that forbid sharing of the aspects of care and providers who caused injury will be done away with. Their need will be obsolete.
Patient advocates have as much responsibility to other advocates as they do to the hospitals they return to work with.
And what of the families who do not settle?I walked away from a $750,000 offer with a confidentiality clause settlement in the med-mal wrongful death case of my son, James. His records are public, and I have spoken and written about his care and my subsequent journey, which includes personal conversations with his doctors post-verdict.
I have reached out personally on a number of occasions to the hospital's leadership to work collaboratively. I would like to hear about how to engage hospitals and providers that work with patients and families absent of a settlement agreement. Since that is what most people experience, there is where we can make the most impact.
Mary Ellen Mannix
Wayne, Pa.
Other Letters Printed in response to same article:
… reference, check …
Thanks so much for these two articles that show great tragedy, courage and learning. They are powerful and important contributions to guide doing the right and respectful thing from the start. The Institute for Healthcare Improvement has just added to its Web site a new collection of resources to help organizations dealing with tragic and high-profile sentinel events.
The next time I update the Effective Crisis Management Bibliography, it will include these two references.
Jim Conway
Senior vice president
Institute for Healthcare Improvement
Cambridge, Mass
*"high profile" - that statement by Mr Conway should alarm everyone. Resources to help tragic and HIGH profile sentinel events." What defines a tragic sentinel event as "high profile"?
Keep 'em coming …
Many thanks on your continued efforts to highlight these advocates (“Changing course,” Nov. 2, p. 6, and “From tragedy to advocacy,” Sept. 7, p. 6). Helen Haskell, Dale Ann Micalizzi, Susan Sheridan and Martin Hatlie have been well-known to me for many years, and I think very highly of them.
I am a patient-safety advocate in Houston. It's going to take a lot more stories like this to start changing history and changing the culture. The more you learn about the healthcare system, the more you realize the patient really doesn't matter! Keep the articles coming.
Lisa Lindell
Houston
… powerful advocates …
Our experience with patients harmed by medical errors, and those whose loved ones who have been subjected to medical harm, proves they can be powerful and effective advocates. Thousands of these individuals, (including Helen Haskell, mentioned in your series) have contacted Consumers Union's Safe Patient Project with their stories of loved ones lost to medication error, hospital-acquired infections and other medical mistakes.
They work with us in state capitals and national forums to shine a light on medical harm, and to enact laws and change medical practices to implement the Institute of Medicine's recommendations, turning their grief into activism. They will be joining us Nov. 17 in Washington or via webcast for a forum to strengthen and grow the patient-safety movement, with a keynote by former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill.
Lisa McGiffert
Campaign manager
Safe Patient Project
Consumers Union
Austin, Texas
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