Dr. Vicki Rackner has more than 10 years of direct patient care experience treating tens of thousands of patients. She has been a patient advocate for the past five years.

The most frequent question posed to Dr. Vicki is, "Do you still practice medicine?" She answers, "I do what doctors do…I help people get and stay healthy. I represent the voice of the patient, which is more important now than ever." Dr. Vicki believes that many of the horror stories in medicine can be prevented by patients using their voices.

Dr. Vicki draws from a unique combination of the experience that includes:

• Receiving M.D. from Boston University in 1988 cum laude
• Clinical faculty member at the University of Washington School of Medicine
• Serving as an expert witness in more than 100 malpractice cases
• Author of Chicken Soup for the Soul Health Living Series: Heart Disease, The Personal Health Journal and The Biggest Skeleton in Your Doctor's Closet
• Former Medical Editor of the HOPE Health Letter with a monthly readership of 3.5 million now on the medical advisory board
• Being quoted in such major newspapers as The Wall Street Journal and CNN.com
• Being featured in the American Medical Association's AM News
• Being interviewed on such radio shows as Body Talk and Wide World of Health
• Member of the American College of Surgeons and the National Speakers Assn.
• Most importantly, she has been on "all five sides" of health care as
  1. a patient who received a life-saving operation,
  2. a parent of a child with special needs,
  3. an expert witness in medical malpractice suits,
  4. a full-time patient advocate, author, and media resource on this topic
  5. a caring surgeon hand-cuffed by current healthcare policies and procedures.