A father shares his mission to teach the tragic outcomes medical errors have

WAYNE TOWNSHIP — Medical errors are to blame for as many as 251,000 deaths annually in the United States, according to the National Institutes of Health.

It's why it's been one father's mission to change the outcomes he says are plaguing society.

NIH's study says medical errors are the third leading cause of death in the U.S.

In 2006 one family was face to face with the tragedy.

"My daughters short life here on earth, quite policy was meant to save thousands," Christopher Jerry said.

Jerry's daughter Emily was completing successful chemo therapy. The tumor in her abdomen was gone, but doctors wanted to do one more round of chemo, just to make sure.

On Emily's 2nd birthday she started her 3-day chemo treatment, it was the day she was set to go home.

Emily Jerry Foundation

There was an IV compounding error. Instead of receiving a chemo IV bag with sodium chloride solution of .9% she was given a dose of 23.4%.

"There was a horrible IV compounding error. That took Emily's life," Jerry said.

Essentially Emily died from a salt overdose. Which causes immediate brain swelling.

"I just remember she was fine, she seemed fine. She was complaining of being thirsty one minute and the next minute my little girl was unconscious," Jerry said.

After 3-days on life support her family had to make the difficult decision to take her off.

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"It was the worst decision of our lives," Jerry said.

It was one error that cost Emily her life.

"I truly believe that the pharmacy technician involved did not know better," Jerry said.

But that pain he felt was channeled into the Emily Jerry foundation.

Emily Jerry Foundation

"I never wanted to be the guy that just has the emotionally traumatizing story to share with everybody and then I leave," Jerry said.

It's why students at Area 31 Career Center are learning how to prevent the deadly mistake.

Through the Emily Jerry foundation, Jerry works to educate the importance of patient safety and strive to find practices that minimize the human error component of medicine.

It's why he lectures and presents to students like those at Area 31.

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"It gives us an idea of how important it really is to hound on the little details," one student said. "It just makes it very real for us."

The entire goal for Jerry it to prevent medical errors from happening.

"If it just saves one life," Jerry said.

Emily Jerry Foundation

Since Emily's death, her father has helped get Emily's law passed in Ohio. Which requires pharmacy technicians to be at least 18-year-old, register with the state board of pharmacy, and pass a board-approved competency exam.