Sign up now to subscribe!
From Lieutenant Governor to Germ Sheriff
Eight years after the end of her term as New York's most visible lieutenant governor in recent history, Betsy McCaughey is focusing her attention on another campaign. And she says she prefers it to either her race as George Pataki's (R) 1994 running mate, or as his prospective Democratic opponent in 1998.
McCaughey is the founder and chair of the Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths, where she is leading a national campaign to prevent germ related deaths in hospitals. She has been working to educate hospitals and doctors around the county on infection death prevention and to pass state legislation on the issue.
"I like campaigning against germs better than campaigning against other politicians," she explained.
McCaughey said her interest in the topic grew out of stories she heard while in office of people who went into the hospital for routine surgery and died from infections which occurred in the hospital. Since founding the committee two years ago, McCaughey has been meeting with hospitals and medical schools to promote how to prevent infection deaths. She believes this will actually save money for hospitals in the long term, noting that infection deaths cost hospitals $30.5 billion a year.
McCaughey, still the passionate policy wonk she was while in Albany, has been advocating for state level legislation to require hospitals to supply data on infection deaths each year. The law has been passed by 16 states, including New York. In addition, she has been traveling the country leading public forums on infection death prevention, providing people with ways they can combat infections while they are hospital patients. The tips include showering with anti-bacterial soap for several days prior to surgery to asking doctors to sterilize such objects as stethoscopes and blood pressure cuffs before using them.
"There is an irony that it's first class medical care and third world hygiene," McCaughey said, noting that germs have become increasingly drug resistant. "My goal is to make hygiene a central part of medical care."
McCaughey, an academic known for her criticism of then-First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton's health care plan when McCaughey was plucked from Sen. Alfonse D'Amato's (R) Rolodex to run for lieutenant governor, may be most remembered for her very public falling out with Pataki. Never part of the former governor's inner circle, she feuded with him over policy differences and her work in office. Exhibiting her discontent, she famously stood during Pataki's second State of the State address in 1996.
After being replaced as Pataki's 1998 running mate, McCaughey sought and lost the Democratic nomination to face him to then-City Council Speaker Peter Vallone (D-Queens). She continued in the general election as the Liberal Party nominee. That campaign was marked by her second husband, millionaire Wilbur Ross, pulling his funding for the campaign weeks before the primary.
McCaughey said she has not considered running for elective office again—all her time, she said, is spent on infection deaths. Currently, she is planning a statewide speaking trip to discuss infection deaths with hospitals, the public and medical students.
"It's not often that you find a problem that is solvable and does not cost money," she said. "I am excited to see this problem as preventable."