CHICAGO, May 13, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- The Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety announced today that patient safety advocate Patricia LaChance Knode has joined the Physician-Patient Alliance Board of Advisors.
Patricia's husband, John, passed away after undergoing routine surgery for a torn rotator cuff, as she describes in a recent article published in The Doctor Weighs In:
After undergoing what most people would consider a routine surgery, my husband John, died. Just as heartbreaking as John's passing was to me is the fact that his death was entirely preventable.
John died because his medical history was ignored and because he was not properly monitored after he was placed on a strong narcotic to ease the pain from his surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff in his shoulder.
"John's death could have been prevented if he had not been automatically given an opioid, but consideration been given to his sleep apnea and difficulties he had experienced when receiving anesthesia," said Patricia. "Moreover, once he was given an opioid to manage his pain, he should have been continuously electronically monitored, so that his physicians and nurses would have been alerted to signs of respiratory depression. Eliminating preventable deaths like John's and sparing another family from a similar loss, that's my goal and motivation for joining the Board of Advisors for the Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety."
"Patricia's passion and energy to improve patient safety, and to ensure that the patient's perspective is made a key component of patient care, are welcome additions to our Board of Advisors," said PPAHS Executive Director Michael Wong, JD.
About Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety
Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety is non-profit advocacy group whose mission is to promote safer clinical practices and standards for patients through collaboration among healthcare experts, professionals, scientific researchers, and others, in order to improve health care delivery. For more information, please visit www.ppahs.org.
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SOURCE Physician-Patient Alliance for Health & Safety
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