A documentary film asks: Can health systems improve patient safety by embracing new tech?

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In this still photo from the documentary "The Pitch" Reetam Ganguli pitches his machine learning startup, Elythea, at the 2023 MIT Solve Challenge Finals. — In this still from the documentary, Reetam Ganguli pitches his machine learning startup at the 2023 MIT Solve Challenge Finals.Tall Tale Productions, LLC

By Casey Ross

Sept. 17, 2024

Chief Investigative Reporter, Data & Technology

Reetam Ganguli once pitched his technology, to rescue women from pregnancy complications, in an airplane bathroom. He often works all night, when other recent college graduates are partying. And he sometimes goes weeks without seeing his girlfriend — or any friend at all.

But in the midst of his sacrifices, things are looking up.

Ganguli’s story as a startup founder is the centerpiece of a new documentary from the makers of “To Err is Human,” a 2018 film about patient safety that followed a 1999 landmark report of the same title by the National Institute of Medicine. The sequel, titled “The Pitch,” spotlights how a new generation of technology stands to improve patient safety in the United States — that is, if young entrepreneurs like Ganguli can get an audience with the physicians, insurers, and executives who are the health care system’s gatekeepers.

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Casey Ross
Chief Investigative Reporter, Data & Technology
Casey Ross covers the use of artificial intelligence in medicine and its underlying questions of safety, fairness, and privacy.