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Tragedy Turns Actor James Woods Into Patient Safety Patron

By Andy Hoffman

James Woods recently settled his lawsuit with Kent Hospital in R.I. over the wrongful death of his brother, Michael.

But it?s not just the personal justice for the Woods family that?s notable here?it?s also the benefits that future patients will reap as a result of the litigation (one of the many benefits of the civil justice system that is often overlooked).

Hospital president Sandra Coletta admitted that ?mistakes were made? in the way Michael Woods was treated, and the settlement includes a promise by the hospital to clean up its act?specifically, by investing $1.25 million over the next five years to create the Michael J. Woods Institute at Kent Hospital.

According to Coletta, ?the institute will be run by a board that will include a Woods family member and be charged with developing new procedures and training for Kent Hospital staffers, starting with the emergency room where Michael Woods died of a heart attack in July 2006.?

Woods emphasized how resolution of the case would give him ?if not closure, some piece of mind about the meaning of his brother?s death.?

?It makes it possible for me to go to my brother?s grave and ask if I?ve done the right thing,? said Woods.

Full post as published by ThePopTort on December 04, 2009 (boomark / email).