True Stories
What happened to my mother was horribly painful and sad.
Before she died, my mother asked me to make sure
something like this never happens to another human being.
That is why I am working to create awareness of surgical fires
and advocating for transparency in medical errors.
Lewis Blackman, a healthy, gifted 15-year-old, underwent elective surgery at MUSC. In one of the state's most modern hospitals. He bled to death over 30 hours while those caring
for him missed signs that he was in grave peril.
It was a normal day, in a normal family, in a normal part of the world. No wars, no plane crashes and no media hype about hurricanes, tornados or famine, when my only son went in for a "simple" procedure...
Before our very eyes, a respected medical establishment let
a man die at the hands of one of its most respected oncology groups. Before our very eyes, veteran physicians, not medical residents, systematically poisoned a man with chemotherapy drugs because they got the orders wrong.
When our 13 month old daughter was brought into the emergency room we were told that the shunt which was placed
in her head at birth was in failure, her condition was "emergent", and that she required immediate surgery.
We were then told that since the "OR" was too busy and due to the late hour and on the weekend, she was being bumped from surgery that evening and would have to wait until the next morning for surgery. She did not make it until the morning.
On February 3rd, 1997, my youngest daughter went to our Primary Care Physician complaining of pains in her chest, shortness of breathe and dizziness. They told her to breathe into a brown paper bag for the dizziness.
They then sent her home.
Wade James Shaffer
Died of a brain tumor. HMO neglect
Willie Parker
Survivor of unneccessary brain surgery and hospital infection
Julia C. Townsend Olivares
Unauthorized medical research
Jennie C. Zaur
Failure to rescue
Dianna Brookins
Died from sepsis
Nancy T. Stanzia
Survived Necrotizing Fasciitis -
Flesh-Eating Bacteria
Mark Bennett
Died from hospital-acquired Infection
Meriden Elizebeth Blackman
Died from kidney failure due to multiple medical errors
Jessie Marie Gayer
Died from infection
Michael Skolnik
Died due to multiple medical errors
727-712-7370
Medical Error, Lack of Communication, Hospital Acquired Conditions, Misdiagnosis, Lack of Informed Consent, Medication Errors
