What Is the Long-Term Impact of Adverse Events on Patients?

IHI Open School Video Short Transcript

Helen Haskell, MA, mother of Lewis Blackman, a 15-year-old boy who died from medical error, President of Mothers Against Medical Error, and member of the IHI Board of Directors

One of the stories I’m thinking of is that I had one patient who had a hospital-acquired infection that left her completely disabled, needing lots and lots of medical care. Most people have a two-income family and live month to month; most people do not have money to spare, at least not that kind of money. She was in terrible straights.

The hospital-acquired infection is very difficult to bring suit over because it is very difficult to prove the genesis of an infection, even though it is intuitively obvious. I cannot remember if she won her lawsuit or not, but I do know that they were on the verge of losing their house when her disability finally came through and they were able to save their lifestyle, to a certain extent. She was never able to work again.

The strain that puts on a family makes divorce really common, whether from disability or death. One of the things I deal with a lot is the death of a child. It’s really very rare for those families to stay together. People blame themselves, they blame each other, and they grieve differently. I mean these are terrible events, and they need to be treated as being as terrible an event as if someone had been killed or injured in a car crash. The idea that we don’t give sympathy to people who have medical events is really unconscionable.