Published: August 13, 2006 11:10 am         

Demonstration to protest preventable medical errors

To the Editor:

Nearly 195,000 people in the United States die each year as a result of preventable medical errors in 2000, 2001, and 2002 according to a study of 37 million patient records that was released by HealthGrades, the leading healthcare rating organization (go to www.healthgrades.com).

Missing from this data are the tens of thousands of patients each year who are maimed or catastrophically disabled by preventable medical errors.

These victims and their families suffer severe physical, emotional and financial ruin for the rest of their lives.

The current legal system and practices of the healthcare providers allows them to avoid accountability and financial responsibility; therefore, these medical victims and their families are uncompensated.

It is time for medical victims and their families to have a public voice and speak out about the permanent damages they have suffered at the hands of these medical criminals.

We are organizing a patient safety demonstration in Baltimore to sound the alarm to the ever-growing dangers that exist in our American hospitals. The demonstration will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2006 with a rain date of Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2006.

This particular hospital system has proven itself to be especially dangerous, nearly deadly to our family. They have evaded all responsibility. We are urging hospital victims to join us in making a stand against this atrocity. Here is your opportunity to do just that by sharing your story with us so that it can be forwarded to state and federal legislators, to the media, and to the public.

By sharing your story, we can work together to bring justice and compensation to these victims and their families.

Please use this opportunity to make a difference in your life and the lives of others who will become victims of preventable medical errors.