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A Millionaire’s Mission: Stop Hospitals from Killing their Patients by Medical Error
Article

A Millionaire’s Mission: Stop Hospitals from Killing their Patients by Medical Error

STAT, 2017

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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Scientific
  • Applicable
  • Inspiring

Recommendation

Science writer Usha Lee McFarling introduces Joe Kiani, the good-guy millionaire whose engineering solutions are making patients in hospitals safer. Far from merely praising Kiani, McFarling also reports on what his detractors and rivals have to say. Kiani pays politicians a lot of money to come to his annual summits, but he also has the grudging respect of many of his business rivals. Kiani comes across as highly persuasive, but for a good cause. It’s an encouraging story of technology with the potential to save many lives. getAbstract recommends this article to anyone with an interest in patient safety.

Take-Aways

  • If medical devices communicated with each other, it would reduce medical errors and avoidable deaths.
  • Engineer Joe Kiani has been improving medical devices since the 1980s.
  • He changed the hospital purchasing model in the United States to allow for more competition and better quality.

About the Author

 Usha Lee McFarling is the West Coast correspondent for STAT News, a science writer and a Pulitzer Prize–winner.