As a future healthcare provider, it was to my advantage to attend Sorrel King’s one-time presentation of Josie King’s Story in the PAC on Thursday afternoon, October 2, 2014. The short dialogue session was only about an hour in length, but the presentation had incredible depth. Sorrel King talked about how her 18-month-old child died at John’s Hopkins University Medical Center due to medical errors – essentially, a breakdown in communication among the healthcare professionals.

Sitting in the audience, I listened to Sorrel describe what seemed to be a very pleasant, clam, and friendly stay at the hospital. She told of how she befriended many, if not all, of the staff on the particular floor that Josie was being treated on. At this point, I couldn’t have predicted that anything could possibly go wrong. Yet, Sorrel described how her own motherly intuition was overlooked. The doctors gave Josie methadone despite the fact that Sorrel had been told that she would not be given any. Sorrel could only wonder if this was a mistake or if the doctors simply new better.

Afterwards, she noticed that Josie looked unusually dehydrated. She sensed that something was wrong, but without the support of the medical team, Sorrel couldn’t do much. Eventually, Josie’s condition plummeted, going from ready to be discharged to minutes from death. I was shocked to hear of such an unpredictable turn of events.

The aftermath of the tragic event was more than just a grand settlement from Hopkins (in fact, Sorrel was adamant that she wanted to destroy the reputation of Hopkins, but her lawyer advised her to take the money and do something with it instead). Sorrel became a major influence in the field of health care, bringing awareness to the issues of miscommunication between health professionals. With the settlement money, Sorrel was able to help fund projects at hospitals all over the U.S., and has spoken at international conferences on patient safety.

This entire presentation brought something entirely new to my attention: medical errors are common, but are easily fixable. Perhaps because I have never been personally affected by a medical error, I never really thought about how serious their consequences are. What Sorrel talked about, however, was that these serious problems can easily be avoided with the implementation of preventative procedures, family involvement initiatives, and improved interprofessional communication. Overall, this presentation was eye opening and very interesting, and I will keep its message in mind as I continue on my track for a health care career.