PSMF Hosts Screening, Talk With Filmmaker of Medical Error Film, ‘Bleed Out’

As part of the organization’s mission to eliminate preventable harm and death in healthcare across the world by creating a sense of urgency and unifying humanity, the Patient Safety Movement Foundation has organized a screening of the award-winning HBO hit film “Bleed Out.” This event will take place on Tuesday, June 29, at 6 p.m. PST. The documentary film explores how one American family deals with the effects of medical malpractice.

The film was awarded ‘Best Feature Documentary’ by the Los Angeles Press Club, with judges declaring “Bleed Out” “absolutely mind-blowing.” After the screening, Filmmaker Steve Burrows will be available for a question-and-answer session about the film. Referred to as “the movie the healthcare system doesn’t want you to see,” this event is designed for anyone who gives, receives or needs healthcare.

A $10 donation per ticket is appreciated. All proceeds from this virtual fundraising event will be used to keep PSMF’s patient safety educational materials and outreach programs current for hospitals to provide safer and more reliable care.

More About ‘Bleed Out’

Medical error is the third leading cause of death in the U.S. After a routine partial hip replacement operation leaves the mother of filmmaker and comedian Steve Burrows in a coma with permanent brain damage, what starts as a personal video diary becomes a citizen’s investigation into the state of American healthcare.

In 2009, Steve Burrows’ mother, Judie, an active and independent retired teacher, fell while riding her bike and was rushed to the hospital for hip surgery. After months of painful recovery, she fell again. Then, after eight days in the hospital and a second hip surgery, in which she lost approximately half her blood, the 69-year-old fell into a coma and suffered permanent brain damage.

Questioning whether his mother received adequate care in surgery and in the hospital’s “e-ICU” unit, in which doctors sometimes monitor patients remotely by camera, Burrows consulted friends and lawyers, eventually deciding with his family to sue for medical malpractice.

Bleed Out is his harrowing, eye-opening account of the 10 years that follow — an endless cycle of medical bills, emergency-room visits and insurance-company red tape. Part medical mystery and legal thriller, part investigative journey and meditation on family, this is a revealing, cautionary tale.

The documentary uses one family’s story to underscore deep flaws in America’s current healthcare system and highlights ways those problems could be fixed. In addition to intimate footage and interviews with members of the Burrows family, the film features observations from experts in the field, including Dr. Marty Makary, M.D., a surgeon at Johns Hopkins and author of “Unaccountable: What Hospitals Won’t Tell You and How Transparency Can Revolutionize Healthcare,” who contextualizes the issues of healthcare policy and medical error.

In Judie’s second year after surgery, Burrows travels biweekly from his home in Los Angeles to Milwaukee to assist in her limited recovery and tries to make sense of her medical bills, all while immersing himself in the details of medical error and the increasing use of e-ICUs in hospitals. Four years in, Judie is on Medicaid and her 50 years of life savings have been wiped out by medical bills. Meanwhile, Bleed Out follows Burrows and his family over the years as the legal case proceeds and eventually goes to trial.

Throughout, Burrows remains committed to searching for the truth about what happened with his mother’s care as well as exposing larger, universal issues concerning medical errors in the American healthcare system and how they are addressed.

Bleed Out is an HBO Documentary Films presentation of a Creative Chaos and The Burrows of Hollywood film in association with Impact Partners; written and directed by Steve Burrows; produced by Ilan Arboleda, Steve Burrows and Tom Donahue; executive produced by Dan Cogan, Jenny Raskin, Geralyn Dreyfous and Steve Edwards; co-produced by Margo Burrows and Jessicya Materano; and edited by Jill Schweitzer. The HBO executive producers were Nancy Abraham and Sheila Nevins.

More About the Patient Safety Movement Foundation

The Patient Safety Movement Foundation was established through the support of the Masimo Foundation for Ethics, Innovation, and Competition in Healthcare to reduce that number of preventable deaths to zero. Improving patient safety requires a collaborative effort from all stakeholders, including patients, healthcare providers, medical technology companies, government, employers and private payers.

Register for this PSMF Event