Joe Kiani’s bid to get medical device makers to share data in ways that could prevent an estimated 200,000 unnecessary deaths each year got a lot of attention at the inaugural Masimo Patient Safety Science and Technology Summit last week at the Ritz-Carlton—something that’s bound to happen when Bill Clinton shows up to give a talk. Less attention has been paid to Kiani’s longstanding work on various other causes. The former president told the crowd that the founder of Irvine-based Masimo Inc. joined him for a trip to Africa last year—and also made a commitment to a program of U.S.-based NGO Building Tomorrow, which provides healthcare for women and girls in Kenya. Clinton thanked Kiani for his efforts in Africa, and lauded the crowd of several hundred drawn by the Masimo Foundation as an example the sorts of networks that offer hope of keeping the healthcare system in a constant state of grassroots reform. That will be absolutely necessary—alongside the reform that’s come from Washington—in order to fix an “encrusted” system, Clinton said …
Robert Citron’s passing brought to mind his longstanding relationship with County Supe John Moorlach, who predicted the 1994 bankruptcy caused by Citron’s wayward investments and later replaced him as treasurer. Moorlach remains “connected at the hip” with Citron—the two are cited in more than 40 books, and remain the yin and yang of the BK. Moorlach says they only spoke once—when the defrocked Citron button-holed him after a community event to say he was due some money from the county for an overpayment of taxes or some other thing …
Here’s Orange County’s part in the strange tale of the apparent hoax involving the fictional girlfriend of Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o. Sports Illustrated’s Pete Thamel reports that Te’o told him back in April 28 that his “girlfriend” received cancer treatment at St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton. Thamel captures the oddity of the whole situation succinctly, saying that Te’o “never specified that he’d met her in person, and I didn’t ask. Why would you ask someone if he’d actually met his girlfriend who recently died?” …
Add this to the list of achievements for Mark Robinson, who’s co-lead counsel on the personal injury and wrongful death portion of the sudden-acceleration cases against Toyota, and recently reached a settlement on one of them (see related story in Special Report: Law Firms, starting on page 21). Robinson is slated to become national president of the American Board of Trial Advocates next year, the same post his father held when the organization was founded in 1958 …
Chow line: David Borowik arrives from the Lanesborough Hotel in London for the GM’s post at Stonehill Tavern at St. Regis Monarch Bay. He replaces Pallava Goenka, who moved over to Anaheim-based Specialty Restaurant Corp.’s Orange Hill.
