Medical Malpractice Activist Deirdre Gilbert

Could you move past a personal tragedy and turn it into a chance to help others? This sounds easy enough in words, right? Well, it's a lot harder in practice. Even so, this is exactly what Medical Malpractice Activist Deirdre Gilbert did. Not only is she an activist, she is a mother, teacher, author, and a play and song writer. In 1988, Gilbert gave birth to her only child Jocelyn, who was born with C.H.A.R.G.E. Syndrome. This is a disorder that affects most of the body . CHARGE is an abbreviation for: Coloboma of the eye, Heart defects, Atresia of the choanae, Retardation of Growth and development, and Ear abnormalities. In 2011, after a long and brave fight, Jocelyn died at the hands of ignorant doctors. Though she had already written other published books, she then wrote her most famous book titled Momma Please Help Me.

In memory of Jocelyn, she gone on to become an advocate for the families of people who have C.H.A.R.G.E. Syndrome and also for those who have fallen victim to medical malpractice. She is the National Director for The National Association for Medical Malpractice Victims, Inc and the creator of the Jocelyn Dickson Foundation. Not even two years later, she has met with over 30,000 people who have been down the same road with medical malpractice. Gilbert also expressed, “I am really troubled by the statistics of Memorial Herman Hospital because they have over 1,000 medical malpractice suits and nothing is being done and it’s public knowledge,”. She knew that she had to do something about this. Gilbert said that she heard, “horrific and barbaric stories” from thousands of families. Even so, people rarely like to talk of such things in public with