Remembering Larry Weed (1923-2017)
Today, we are saddened and yet inspired anew to recognize and remember Larry Weed, the inspiration for much of our work and the the documentary film. The video below is a brief memorial tribute to Larry and his ideas. He will be missed.
One of every five patients who see a doctor will receive the wrong diagnosis.
Imagine sitting in an emergency room waiting with those odds?
The reality is that nearly 100,000 Americans die each year as a result of diagnostic error. If ranked by the CDC, it would be the 6th biggest killer in America. The financial cost to the country is between $17-29 billion each year.
How does this happen and what can you do to make sure you don’t become a statistic?
The documentary film, Preventable Harm, will expose medicine's biggest secret: diagnostic error. How did we get here? To find the answers, the film explores important questions about the practice of medicine -- the answers will explain to the audience how we got here in the first place. We will explore the fundamentals of medical education, the limits of the human mind, real stories of people harmed by the system, the insider perspective of physicians, and a blueprint for the future of medicine. The film will reveal why the only way to fix the system is to rebuild the foundation. The audience will see why each and every one of us should be in charge of our own healthcare decisions before we are put at risk.
Background
From the beginning, physicians are trained to gather and memorize medical knowledge. And while the doctors’ mind is an essential component to this training, the mind can fail. It is susceptible to the same limitations, confusion, biases and inaccuracies that plague the rest of us.
Yet, physicians are expected to know what is wrong with us and this impossible challenge leaves patients in great danger and doctors with an incredible psychological burden.
There is an incredible chasm between the amount of knowledge required to practice medicine safely and the capacity of the human mind to process it. Doctors care deeply about their patients and want to do the right thing. How can we bridge this gap?
The film was inspired by the life and work of the late Dr. Larry Weed (1923-2017). Dr. Weed had been trying to fix the fundamental problems with the practice of medicine for over 50 years. The road was not always easy. He showed us that these ideas were first discussed more than 400 years ago by the philosopher Francis Bacon and many others, but they have not gotten any better--at all. Despite his deep beliefs and convictions, Dr. Weed met many obstacles in his crusade to fix the system over the last 5 decades. You will be drawn to the passion and compassion of Larry Weed and amazed by the clarity of his ideas. As the filmmakers were first inspired to document this story, you will be inspired to learn more. You will ask, "why have I never thought about this before?" and hopefully, you will never forget the lessons learned in this film.
In the lead up to this project, the filmmakers have worked closely with professors who study diagnostic error, with educators struggling to teach capable students, with physicians who feel the burden of responsibility and have felt the sting of failure, and most importantly with patients and families who have suffered deeply as a result of the problems in the medical system first hand. The film is about ideas that are much bigger than Larry Weed, the filmmakers, or any of the individuals in the film. It is a film about real problems in the practice of medicine that may affect you or someone you love soon.
Our trailer was created by Christine Louise Mills, features an original score by John A. Wilson, and audio mix by Transported Audio.
