The Safe Patient Project is a Consumers Union campaign focused on eliminating medical harm, improving FDA oversight of prescription drugs and promoting disclosure laws that give information to consumers about health care safety and quality.
NEVER (NorthEast Voices for Error Reduction) is made up of member patient safety and advocacy organizations located throughout the northeast. The mission of NorthEast Voices for Error Reduction (NEVER) is the empowerment of patients and the elimination of healthcare harm by: advocating for patient interests in healthcare delivery; educating the public, the media, elected officials about patient safety, working toward a transparent and accountable healthcare system.
Connecticut
State Disclosure Reports
- CT Central Line Associated Bloodstream Infection (CLABSI) Source: State of Connecticut (Monday September 17, 2012)
- Connecticut Adverse Event Report (2011)
- 2011 Connecticut Health Care Associated Infections (HAIs) Hospital-specific Report
Consumers Union Documents
- State Medical Error Report Links
Reports from the states with laws requiring public reporting of medical errors.
- State Hospital Infection Public Reporting Laws
Summary of state laws hospital infection reporting laws.
Blog Posts
- Consumer voices to be heard at national hospital infection meeting
Meet the eleven consumer advocates who will be attending a U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS)hospital infection meeting this week.
- Dead by Mistake
Check out this new collection of medical errors reporting: “Dead by Mistake”
News Articles
- Blumenthal holds Conn. hearing on patient safety Source: CBS (Tuesday July 3, 2012)
“Jean Rexford, founder and executive director of the Connecticut Center for Patient Safety, cited a 2010 federal report that determined preventable mistakes contributed to the deaths of as many as 950 Medicare beneficiaries in Connecticut hospitals.”
- Senator holds hearing on patient safety Source: Associated Press (Monday July 2, 2012)
Founder and executive director of the Connecticut Center for Patient Safety, Jean Rexford, testifies at a hearing by the Senate Special Committee on Aging at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford on medical errors.
- A patient survival guide, from a mother who learned too late Source: The CT Mirror (Thursday March 8, 2012)
Great information and advice by patient safety advocates, Helen Haskell (Mothers Against Medical Error) and Jean Rexford (Connecticut Center for Patient Safety).
- Where We Live: Patient Safety Source: Your Public Media (Tuesday March 6, 2012)
Podcast featuring Connecticut Center for Patient Safety director, Jean Rexford, and others, discussing many pressing patient safety issues including adverse events and what patients can do to improve hospital outcomes.
- Hospital Errors Persist, State Probes Rare Source: Connecticut Health I-Team (Sunday January 29, 2012)
An in-depth article analyzing the Connecticut adverse event report with quotes by advocate Jean Rexford, director of the Connecticut Center for Patient Safety. The new Adverse Event Report, prepared by the CT Department of Public Health, marks the first time that acute-care hospitals and other medical facilities have been publicly identified by name, as they report errors that caused harm to patients.
- Blumenthal Sponsors Bill To Protect Patients From Unsafe Medical Devices Source: Connecticut Health I-Team (Wednesday January 18, 2012)
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal has joined two other senators introducing legislation designed to protect patients from unsafe medical devices. “This bill will help the FDA to get unsafe devices out of the market more quickly and improve tracking and recall procedures,” said Charles Bell, program director with Consumers Union.
- Patient Safety Advocates Start New England Watchdog Group Source: CT Health I-Team (Tuesday November 22, 2011)
New England patient safety activists form New England Voices For Error Reduction (NEVER), a group that aims to work regionally for safe health care.
- Behind the board: How a flawed system jeopardizes patient safety Source: Greenwich Time (Saturday June 4, 2011)
Jean Rexford, executive director of the Connecticut Center for Patient Safety, comments on the failure of the state medical board at protecting CT patients from dangerous doctors.
- CT: Sex Offender Doc Allowed To Resume Practice Source: New Haven Independent (Tuesday May 17, 2011)
Connecticut Medical Examining Board recently voted to allow a Stamford physician to resume practicing medicine in the state. Berken is a registered sex offender in Connecticut and New York
- CT Hospitals Beat National Average On ICU Bloodstream Infections Source: CT Health I-Team (Thursday March 31, 2011)
This report is the first of its kind in Connecticut, allowing consumers to view central line associated bloodstream infection data reported by Connecticut hospitals.
Research and Reports
- CT Central Line Associated Bloodstream Infection (CLABSI) Source: State of Connecticut (Monday September 17, 2012)
Hospitals Listed By Type of ICU July 1, 2011 through June 30, 2012
- Consumer Advocate Perspective Provided by Jean Rexford at US Senate Hearing Source: HAI Focus (Sunday July 8, 2012)
Jean Rexford, the Executive Director of the Connecticut Center for Patient Safety, recently testified at a hearing before the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging about Patient Safety.
- Connecticut Adverse Event Report (2011)
The CT Department of Public Health releases its first hospital specific adverse event report.
- CT Department of Public Health press release on first hospital-specific report on healthcare associated infections
Connecticut released its first hospital-specific public report on central line-associated bloodstream infections.
- Connecticut Hospital–Specific Report on Health Care Associated Infections
Explanation of CT hospital infection public report.
- CT Health Care Quality Reports
The reports include; Quality in Health Care Program’s Activity Reports to the General Assembly (2002-2009); Adverse Event Reports (2003-2009); and Hospital Performance Comparisons (2003-2006).
Stories from Connecticut
My family experienced a surgical error in 2007. We filed a complaint with the state department of public health over this incident. In the single issue of exposing an IgE latex allergic patient to a medical device containing latex, it should have been very easy for DPH to find that the surgeon and hospital provided our daughter with negligent care. The device was clearly labeled as containing latex, the hospital and surgeon identified our daughter, Kelly, as a latex allergic patient before surgery, standard of care at the hospital was the strict avoidance of all latex products in an surgical/medical procedure for an identified latex allergic patient, and the Informed Consent for this procedure does not give the hospital or surgeon permission to treat our daughter with a medical device containing latex.
Lesley of Stamford, Connecticut
In November of 1995 my father went into the hospital for surgery on his bladder. Because someone carelessly didn’t wash properly between patients in intensive care, my father got an antibiotic resistant pneumonia which killed him in the hospital just two months before the birth of my first child, his first grandchild.
Mark of West Hartford, Connecticut
While my psychiatrist at a local university affiliated mental health clinic was on maternity leave, I was assigned to another physician. My usual psychiatrist had prescribed three different antidepressants to be taken at the same time. This is sometimes done to treat “break-through” symptoms. Apparently, the combination caused side effects that looked somewhat like low-level hypomanic symptoms.
Barbara S. of Connecticut
While recuperating from kidney surgery in 2007, I was “dropped off” from the recovery room to a regular patient room while still asleep. I woke in the morning without being able to call the nurse, not being able to adjust my bed, and I had no IV or pain medication.
Rick of South Kent, Connecticut
In January of 2005, I was admitted to a major teaching hospital in the northeast for heart valve replacement and repair surgery. The surgery was successful, yet a few days later I began to show the early symptoms of MRSA.