Michelle Woodward

The Betsy Lehman Center for Patient Safety

The Betsy Lehman Center is a non-regulatory state agency that uses communications and research to catalyze the efforts of providers, policymakers, and consumers working toward safer health care in Massachusetts. The Center is named for Betsy Lehman, who died in 1994 as the result of a preventable medical error while being treated for breast cancer. Her shocking and tragic death became a catalyst for change in approaches to patient safety both in Massachusetts and nationally.