Dan Ford developed a deep passion for patient safety as a result of medical errors experienced in Illinois by his first wife, Diane, at age 47, and the treatment he experienced when he started asking logical and genuine questions. The mother of three children (11, 14, and 17 at the time), Diane was pursuing her second master's degree, and suffered a morphine-induced respiratory arrest following a hysterectomy. She has permanent brain damage/short-term memory loss and a poor quality of life, and resides in an independent living facility.
Desiring to convert his anger, hurt, and frustration into constructive change delayed because of a nine-year medical malpractice lawsuit, and using his visibility as a healthcare executive search consultant, Dan became a patient safety advocate. He has given more than 55 presentations to boards of directors and management and physician leadership of hospitals, systems, other provider organizations, and HRSA. He is a member of the Board of Directors of ISMP in Pennsylvania as well as a CAPS member and WHO/PAHO champion, and works with TMIT and a group of other patient safety advocates on listening, disclosure, and related initiatives. He is also a member of the GE Healthcare PSO Advisory Board. He has served on a number of other provider patient safety and quality committees nationally and in Arizona, including NQF, The Joint Commission, AzHHA, Catholic Health Partners, and Carondelet Health Network. He helped to plan and facilitate CAPS "Partnering with Provider" workshops at Northwestern Memorial in Chicago, Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, and AzHHA in Phoenix in 2008 and 2009.
In 2010, Dan was a co-author, with Bev Johnson and Marie Abramson, of "Collaborating with patients and their families" in the Journal of Healthcare Risk Management. The story of the medical error Dan's family endured is told in a chapter of Dr. Sanjay Kumar's book, Fatal Care: Survive in the U.S. Health System.
Dan is a Vice President with Furst Group, a healthcare executive search firm headquartered in Rockford, Illinois, overseeing the firms Southwest practice out of the Phoenix office.