Dr. Tim McDonald says his commitment to patient safety was born out of very close family members being harmed by medical errors and out of a harrowing experience he had with a patient. “A woman came to our medical facility, where I was working as the Chief Patient Safety Officer, for a surgical procedure; and, a pre-op blood test indicated a potential cancer diagnosis,” he says. But due to communication breakdowns, the surgery proceeded, and she died six weeks later due to a treatable leukemia. “We made a ton of mistakes. And clearly contributed to her death,” he says.
After the patient died, Dr. McDonald met