Patients and their family members who have experienced medical errors are "becoming an increasingly powerful and vocal force" by creating Web sites and online communities to share strategies for preventing the errors and provide support and advice, according to the Wall Street Journal.
A group, called Consumers Advancing Patient Safety, two months ago launched an online community, and was selected by the World Health Organization to help build a worldwide network of consumer patient safety experts and to conduct patient safety workshops worldwide.
Sorrel King, whose daughter in 2001 died after a series of medical mistakes at Johns Hopkins Children's Center in Baltimore, has launched a Web site that includes:
- Her own blog on patient safety;
- An online community where families can post their experiences with medical errors;
- Advice from medical and legal experts on how to avoid medical errors and deal with them if they occur; and
- Resources for hospitals to boost safety.
The
Journal highlights four other patient safety Web sites started by family members and caregivers of patients who were harmed by medical errors.
- Jennifer Dingman co-founded Persons United Limiting Substandards and Errors in Health Care after her mother died after a series of preventable medical errors.
- Ilene Corina started a related group, Pulse of New York, after her three-year-old son died following a tonsillectomy.
- Cathy Lake launched the Surgical Fire Web site to inform consumers of the risk of fires from electrical equipment used during surgery after her mother was severely burned and later died after a series of complications and treatment errors.
- Linda Kenney, after nearly dying from complications from a routine surgery, joined Rick Van Pelt, the anesthesiologist involved, to create Medically Induced Trauma Support, which offers support and resources for families and medical professionals (Landro, Wall Street Journal, 5/30).