PULSE of NY's Ilene Corina Heads to Albany to Fight for NY State Doctors' Info Website
President and founder of patient advocacy organization hopes to save patients' access to information about their doctors.
Wantagh, NY, March 11, 2015 (Newswire.com) - Ilene Corina, President and founder of PULSE of NY, America's first patient advocacy organization focusing on reducing medical errors through education and patient safety advocacy, is heading to Albany, NY on Thursday aiming to save patients’ access to information about their doctors’ professional backgrounds.
Funding cut for NYDoctorProfile
"It's never been about good or bad doctors. It's always been about access to information."
Ilene Corina, President, PULSE of NY
The proposed next NY State budget may de-fund the physician profile website that Corina and a handful of advocates fought for more than 15 years ago. During patient safety awareness week, patient safety advocates are heading to Albany to remind the Governor that New Yorkers need to have access to information about the physician who will care for them.
Following the death of her first son as he bled to death following a tonsillectomy, Corina wanted to be more involved in choosing a doctor who would later do surgery on another, younger son. At the time, there was no centralized source of information about doctors’ records. Corina and others led a successful fight that resulted in New York State’s public website and database of doctors, NYDoctorProfile (http://www.nydoctorprofile.com).
What do you really know about your doctors?
Corina often starts her PULSE of NY workshops and community training sessions with the question, "What do you really know about your doctors?"
"It’s never been about good or bad doctors," Corina says. "It’s always been about access to information." Transparency and patient empowerment have been in the forefront of the effort to improve patient safety, and Corina sees the axing of the doctor profile website as a serious step backward.
Ilene Corina will be at the state Capital for a press conference at 11:00 AM on Thursday, March 12.
She can be reached for further comment at 516-579-4711 (office) or 516-650-2421 (cell).
