---------- Forwarded message ---------From: April Foran <APRIL.FORAN@phhs.

org> Date: Wed, Dec 5, 2012 at 11:56 AM Subject: A message from Parkland's External Affairs To: April Foran <APRIL.FORAN@phhs.org>

To: Opinion Leaders and media From: Mike Malaise, Interim Senior Vice President, External Affairs Subject: A Message from External Affairs The Dallas Morning News again ran a story regarding Parkland Health & Hospital System today that is wildly inaccurate. We are writing you to correct the record. The story we are referring to is on the front page of the Metro section under the headline Parkland erred in 2 deaths, state says. First and foremost, the state absolutely did not say Parkland erred in two deaths as the Morning News headline erroneously states. The investigations into the tragic loss of these patients identified no system errors. And the state has not deemed Parkland responsible for these deaths. Again, the statement made by the Dallas Morning News is simply 100 percent false. And for theMorning News to suggest that the states response to at fault deaths would be a $650 fine is absurd. To be clear, after any unexpected death within our health care system, a prompt investigation must be conducted. In this case, Parkland did not meet its internal standards for getting these investigations completed in the timeframe and the manner that we expect of ourselves. Moreover, the states actions surrounding this matter were entirely appropriate. Both cases were sent to Peer Review for investigation. Peer Review, by law, is deemed privileged information and therefore, confidential. The Quality and Patient Safety Departments have been re-designed since this event as described in our corrective action response to the Texas Department of State Health Services. Again, the state did not find that Parkland was responsible for these tragic deaths. That portion of the Morning Newss story was simply made up. Parkland has repeatedly raised the issue of inaccuracy in the Morning Newss reporting and the paper has repeatedly refused to address the issue, which now seems to have become chronic within their newsroom. But Parkland will continue correcting the record so that the public, our elected officials, our employees, state regulators and other members of the media are not left with inaccurate information. Parkland is working every day to improve safety and quality of care for our patients and we still have a lot of work to do before we can say we are meeting the expectations we have set for ourselves. But the Morning Newss continued inaccurate reporting is doing Dallas County a disservice in offering false information to a public that relies on Parkland to be the cornerstone of health care in our community.