good lawyer she was, Sarah asked a question to which — having checked with Dr. Cho — she knew the answer. “I hope Ariel is doing well?”
“She’s better…so much better,” Catherine said with a little smile.
“That’s wonderful news,” Sarah said, genuinely glad for the child’s recovery.
“Yes, it is. But I want to make it clear at the outset that I don’t want to be away from Ariel for long. Can this meeting be wrapped up in an hour?” Catherine asked, tapping her fingers on the table.
Sarah scanned her fellow committee members and Harry for agreement before responding. “Of course. We understand how anxious you are to get back to Ariel. We’ll complete our presentation within your preferred time frame. To make things more efficient, I suggest that you hold your questions until you hear the entirety of our proposed improvement plan. There are paper and pens available if something comes to mind during the presentation.”
The Arkins and Baumgarten nodded their silent assent.
“First, on behalf of the hospital, I would like to say how sorry everyone is that your baby girl was subjected to a terrible error at the hands of our staff. I personally interviewed everyone involved in your daughter’s care. Each staff member expressed profound regret knowing that Ariel suffered because of our mistake. I want to assure you that this error has had, and continues to have, both personal and institutional ramifications.
“From the institutional perspective, I’d like to emphasize that the intent of the hospital is to leave no stone unturned in its effort to prevent another child from going through what Ariel went through. Its goal is nothing short of the elimination of medication errors. To that end, it assembled this team to create the remediation plan we are about to present. I’d like to introduce the team: Dr. Richard Smith, fellow in pediatric intensive medicine; Aimee Sackoff, director of nursing; Joanne Marsh, director of pharmacy; Rob DiPerna, chief of the design team for Accumeds, the hospital’s computerized medication administration system; Ted Ainslie, hospital vice president for finance and budget; and John Mess, hospital vice president for risk management. Counsel for the hospital is Harry Meinig. I’m Sarah Abadhi, Mr. Meinig’s associate. Also here today from our firm is Doris Ostrom, who will be keeping the minutes for this meeting.”
“Mr. Meinig and I go way back,” Baumgarten interjected. “Nice to see you again, Harry. Too bad it’s under such terrible circumstances.”
Harry didn’t blink. “We can all agree that we’re here today to make sure those circumstances are never repeated. In the interest of time, I suggest we let Ms. Abadhi continue.” Then he gave Sarah the nod to go on.
“Each of our team members will present the proposed changes in their area of expertise. First to present is Aimee Sackoff, director of nursing.” Sarah motioned to Sackoff to begin as she returned to her seat to take charge of the PowerPoint visuals.
“Good morning,” Sackoff started. “I would like to reiterate what Ms. Abadhi said. Our entire nursing staff was shaken to the core by the error that was made in Ariel’s case. However, we believe that something really powerful, really good, may occur as a result of what your baby experienced. As you may know, your daughter’s nurse was working back-to-back shifts last week, due to a staffing shortage. That nurse is one of our very best, most experienced nurses. We believe that fatigue played a role in her not catching the medication error. We are committed to addressing the problem of fatigued nurses delivering beside care. In keeping with that commitment, we propose to be the first hospital in the city to eliminate mandatory overtime for nurses,” Sackoff said triumphantly, revealing none of her previously expressed reservations about the proposal.
“This is so important,” Sackoff explained, “because we all know that people do
“She’s better…so much better,” Catherine said with a little smile.
“That’s wonderful news,” Sarah said, genuinely glad for the child’s recovery.
“Yes, it is. But I want to make it clear at the outset that I don’t want to be away from Ariel for long. Can this meeting be wrapped up in an hour?” Catherine asked, tapping her fingers on the table.
Sarah scanned her fellow committee members and Harry for agreement before responding. “Of course. We understand how anxious you are to get back to Ariel. We’ll complete our presentation within your preferred time frame. To make things more efficient, I suggest that you hold your questions until you hear the entirety of our proposed improvement plan. There are paper and pens available if something comes to mind during the presentation.”
The Arkins and Baumgarten nodded their silent assent.
“First, on behalf of the hospital, I would like to say how sorry everyone is that your baby girl was subjected to a terrible error at the hands of our staff. I personally interviewed everyone involved in your daughter’s care. Each staff member expressed profound regret knowing that Ariel suffered because of our mistake. I want to assure you that this error has had, and continues to have, both personal and institutional ramifications.
“From the institutional perspective, I’d like to emphasize that the intent of the hospital is to leave no stone unturned in its effort to prevent another child from going through what Ariel went through. Its goal is nothing short of the elimination of medication errors. To that end, it assembled this team to create the remediation plan we are about to present. I’d like to introduce the team: Dr. Richard Smith, fellow in pediatric intensive medicine; Aimee Sackoff, director of nursing; Joanne Marsh, director of pharmacy; Rob DiPerna, chief of the design team for Accumeds, the hospital’s computerized medication administration system; Ted Ainslie, hospital vice president for finance and budget; and John Mess, hospital vice president for risk management. Counsel for the hospital is Harry Meinig. I’m Sarah Abadhi, Mr. Meinig’s associate. Also here today from our firm is Doris Ostrom, who will be keeping the minutes for this meeting.”
“Mr. Meinig and I go way back,” Baumgarten interjected. “Nice to see you again, Harry. Too bad it’s under such terrible circumstances.”
Harry didn’t blink. “We can all agree that we’re here today to make sure those circumstances are never repeated. In the interest of time, I suggest we let Ms. Abadhi continue.” Then he gave Sarah the nod to go on.
“Each of our team members will present the proposed changes in their area of expertise. First to present is Aimee Sackoff, director of nursing.” Sarah motioned to Sackoff to begin as she returned to her seat to take charge of the PowerPoint visuals.
“Good morning,” Sackoff started. “I would like to reiterate what Ms. Abadhi said. Our entire nursing staff was shaken to the core by the error that was made in Ariel’s case. However, we believe that something really powerful, really good, may occur as a result of what your baby experienced. As you may know, your daughter’s nurse was working back-to-back shifts last week, due to a staffing shortage. That nurse is one of our very best, most experienced nurses. We believe that fatigue played a role in her not catching the medication error. We are committed to addressing the problem of fatigued nurses delivering beside care. In keeping with that commitment, we propose to be the first hospital in the city to eliminate mandatory overtime for nurses,” Sackoff said triumphantly, revealing none of her previously expressed reservations about the proposal.
“This is so important,” Sackoff explained, “because we all know that people do
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