Our thanks to the Hearst Corporation and Hearst newspapers for their insightful and cutting edge reporting on medical errors. Please visit the website at http://www.chron.com/deadbymistake/. And read the Dead by Mistake blog and leave your comments at http://blogs.chron.com/deadbymistake/.
The reporters and editors involved in this story consider bringing the plague of medical errors to the attention of their readers a “public service” and so do we. The media plays an important role in educating consumers about the potential dangers in our medical system and helps us make our voices heard in health care reform efforts.
“Dead by Mistake” shares many heart wrenching and compelling personal stories. We are all too familiar with these kinds of stories because we hear them on a regular basis from people all over the country. We support mandatory national adverse event reporting and transparency because we need the data and the statistics to identify where problems are occurring. Without these numbers, it becomes impossible to fix what ails our system and patients will continue to pay the price.
We focus our work on empowering the public to be active participants in their care because we know first hand that patients and their advocates are a vital part of the “safety net” that can prevent medical errors from reaching the bedside
