Josie's Story Q&A with the author

This is truly a parent's worst nightmare. In 2001, 18-month-old Josie King was taken to the nation's best hospital, Johns Hopkins, after she was severely scalded in the bathtub at home. A few weeks later, she was dead of complications from dehydration, due to a series of preventable medical errors.\

The Baltimore Sun chronicled Josie's plight -- and her mother's campaign to stomp out medical errors. Now the mother, Sorrel King, who still lives in Baltimore, has written her own account, "Josie's Story." Reporter Kelly Brewington interviewed King about the book and her crusade through the Josie King Foundation. It's interesting reading -- especially these days, when health care reform is dominating the news. Here's an excerpt:

Why did you decide to write this book? And can you explain the process you went through to do so.

I wrote it for the health care industry, to inspire them. I wrote it for a parent who lost a child. I wrote the book for my children. I wrote the book for the general public so it can be another tool in my toolbox to raise awareness on this issue that I don't think people quite get. The most important thread to me that I hope to get out to all these categories is the book is about loss. We are all going to suffer some kind of loss at some time in our lives - loss of a job, death, cancer, divorce. What do you do when something bad happens? I hope people learn to take it and learn how to make something good come out of it.