Former President Bill Clinton delivered the keynote address at the 4th annual World Patient Safety, Science & Technology Summit in Dana Point, Calif., sharing a story of a time his own family was affected by a medical error, according to The Orange County Register.
Mr. Clinton recounted the story of his cousin, who was sent home from a local clinic that thought she had the flu, to an audience of physicians, hospital executives, policymakers and patient advocates. The condition of the cousin worsened, he explained, and she went on to die several days later in a hospital with sepsis, according to the report.
"I just started thinking about all the people going to big, urban hospitals and how in that kind of operation, how easy it is to let the little things drop through the cracks," Mr. Clinton told the audience.
He went on to say the patient safety movement could achieve large-scale success in reducing medical errors and eliminating preventable patient deaths, with the hard work of the audience members and other healthcare professionals who are similarly situated to make a difference.
Mr. Clinton is a longtime supporter of the Patient Safety Movement Foundation. His appearance at the summit was one of several health-related stops he made in California before his foundation — the Clinton Global Initiative — hosts its own annual Health Matters Activation Summit, according to the report.
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