Hunter Gets an Audience with the Politicians

Good News! I have been invited to testify before the Senate Health and Long-Term Care Committee next Monday to tell Hunter's story as a reason that hospitals must be held accountable for infection control. Disclosure is a key solution to such accountability.

Rep. Tom Campbell's bill (HB 1015) will require reporting of hospital-acquired infections in Washington. Despite opposition from the powerful hospital lobby, Rep. Campbell was able to get the support he needed to pass the Washington House of Representatives. Now the Senate Health and Long-Term Care Committee will hold a public hearing next Monday, February 20, at 3:30 PM. It is crucial that this bill get the support of this committee and some members of the committee may be hostile to this important legislation.

I will be there to tell Hunter's story, and the story of Children's Hospital, to emphasize the destructive impact of hospital-acquired infections on patients and their families. I would like to take Hunter along but will probably just bring a photo of her scarred head resulting from all of the additional brain surgeries she required due to the infections. That picture is worth at least a thousand words.