New Training Aims to Transform Healthcare Response to Medical Harm Comms Corps Launches to Equip Clinicians with Skills for Ethical, Compassionate Communication After Adverse Events
RENO, Nev. (August, 2025) – A new healthcare training and advocacy organization, Comms Corps, launches mid-September to fill a critical gap in U.S. medicine: how to communicate ethically, transparently, and compassionately after a medical error or adverse event.
Co-founded by CEO Leilani Schweitzer, a nationally recognized medical harm communications expert, Comms Corps is built on a deeply personal mission. After the preventable death of her son Gabriel due to a medical error, Schweitzer transformed grief into purpose—working for nearly two decades to develop systems that support honest communication, provider accountability, and healing for all involved.
“There’s a silence that often follows medical harm,” said Schweitzer. “It isolates patients and families, but it also isolates the providers. The system doesn’t teach them how to talk about what happened—and that silence deepens everyone’s suffering.”
Medical harm remains one of the most pressing but under-discussed public health crises in the U.S. A Johns Hopkins study estimates that more than 250,000 deaths annually are caused by preventable medical errors, making it the third leading cause of death in the US. The emotional and psychological impact on patients, families, and medical professionals is often profound. Clinicians involved in these events are three times as likely to consider suicide ideation, while patients and families frequently report lasting trauma and mistrust.
Comms Corps was founded to change that.
Through practical training and research supported practices, Comms Corps helps clinicians, risk managers, and hospital leaders respond to harm in ways that restore trust, reduce litigation, and promote long-term healing. The organization’s signature offering, the Certified Medical Harm Communicator (CMHC) program, provides trauma-informed education for medical professionals navigating post-harm communication. The course integrates real-world case studies, emotional intelligence, legal insight, and current research.
Joining Schweitzer in this work is Kyle Sweet, JD, a nationally respected healthcare defense attorney and co-founder of Comms Corps. Sweet brings decades of legal experience guiding healthcare systems through complex liability challenges, and has long advocated for transparency and collaboration as risk-reduction tools.
“At Comms Corps, we believe the path to accountability doesn’t begin with blame—it begins with communication,” said Sweet. “We want to empower healthcare
professionals to respond in ways that build trust, and we know from research and experience that it’s possible.”
Comms Corps is already working with hospitals, academic medical centers, and healthcare networks nationwide to implement evidence-based harm communication practices and elevate ethical standards across the care continuum.
To learn more about Comms Corps or to schedule interviews with the founders, contact Leilani@CommsCorps.com
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About Comms Corps Founded by Leilani Schweitzer and Kyle Sweet, JD, Comms Corps is a national organization dedicated to transforming how healthcare communicates after medical harm. Through training, advocacy, and systems-level guidance, Comms Corps equips professionals with the tools to lead with empathy, transparency, and accountability— especially in the most difficult moments of care.
