Michael Cohen, President of ISMP, Writes About Emily Jerry Foundation for Philly.com

A great heartfelt article was recently written by Michael Cohen, President of the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP), a non-profit healthcare organization that operates the voluntary and confidential ISMP Medication Error Reporting Program. I am very proud to be affiliated with their organization. Together we can truly change things for the better…

A dad embraces the pharmacist responsible for his daughter’s death
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2011

Emily Jerry was just two years old when she died from a medication error made by a hospital pharmacy technician in Cleveland. She had undergone surgeries and four rounds of chemotherapy to treat what doctors said was a highly curable malignant tumor at the base of her spine.

According to her parents, Emily’s previous treatments had been so successful that her last MRI showed that the tumor had miraculously disappeared. This last treatment on her second birthday was just to be sure that there were no traces of cancer left inside of her. Tragically, the technician mixed her final dose of chemotherapy improperly, in a saline solution that was 23 times more concentrated than it should have been.

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