Lorraine Finlay | 1921 – 2017

I’ll be taking some time off for the first time in more than six years since founding The Center for Patient Protection. My mother passed away recently and, like many families I have helped over the years, I need a while to heal the loss.

My mother was a remarkable symbol of courage and inspiration. Her determination to recover, against all odds and a staggering series of medical errors and failures in treatment, inspired the creation of The Center for Patient Protection. Her story, which set medical records for the quality of life and the profound recovery she was able to achieve (after being written off by medical specialists and given the prognosis that her “death was imminent”) has moved countless souls who have come in contact with The Center over the years. The Center has become a recognized voice around the world for better patient safety and for combating medical errors and the emotional harm they cause.

This brought incalculable joy to my mother, who began her career as a young nurse caring for returning World War 11 veterans in the 1940s, and in her nineties was still playing a guiding role in helping to heal and give hope to those who have been harmed by our healthcare systems.

It is because of my mother’s example, and her life-long commitment to caring for others, that I created the free online outreach clinic that has helped thousands around the world to stay safe in the hospital setting and to cope with the devastating impacts when things go wrong. It is the only online clinic of its kind. We have provided one-on-one counseling and healing support to patients and families who had nowhere else to turn and when no one else would listen. We have even provided this help without charge in the middle of the night, on holidays and on weekends. From personal experience, I know that these are often the times when patients and families can feel so alone and abandoned. Some cases go on for weeks and months before patients and families can actually begin to see the kind of closure and resolution they are so desperately seeking.

I have been paying for this service out of my own pocket and without a penny of government support, unlike our healthcare providers and hospitals who, ironically, are the source of the preventable medical errors and breakdowns in care that cause the very problems over which my intervention is regularly sought.

While I am dealing with the loss of my best friend and mentor in all things involving life and faith, I will not be available to take on any new outreach cases through the online clinic. For other matters involving The Center for Patient Protection during this time, I can be contacted here.

Kathleen