'Bleed Out'
Steve Burrows is a prolific actor and accomplished writer-director (Chump Change, The Big Jump) with Milwaukee roots. He’s made a mark in comedy but his latest film is serious business. Burrows’ documentary, Bleed Out, concerns what happened when his mother’s hip surgery put her into a coma with permanent brain damage. Bleed Out documents his 10-year odyssey of impossible medical bills, insurance company evasion and malarkey and the tangled process of filing a medical malpractice suit.
Bleed Out will be screened 11 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 19 at the Oriental Main. Following the screening, a 1 p.m. talkback will be held at Colectivo on Prospect featuring a panel that includes David B. Mayer, CEO of the Patient Safety Movement Foundation; UW-Madison Law School professor Meg Gaines; and Wisconsin State Representative Christine Sinicki, sponsor of legislation that would require cameras in the operating room to protect patient safety.
Burrows’ experience is not unique. Medical error has been cited as one of America’s leading causes of death. I asked the filmmaker answers some questions about the genesis of Bleed Out.
Tell me a little about the family experiences that led you to make Bleed Out.
Basically, my mom went in for a routine partial hip replacement and came out in a coma with permanent brain damage. My mom was a retired school teacher at MPS (Special Ed) and was a very active world traveler. It all changed with the flick of a switch. My uncle the doctor, told me to become P.O.A., get the medical records before they changed them and to get an attorney so we could find out what really happened. Plan A: take care of my Mom. Plan B: get her justice. Plan C: (if necessary) make a documentary. It turned out to be necessary. This thing that happened to my Mom has torn our family apart.
If I remember correctly, you grew up in Milwaukee? Tell a little about your background before launching your filmmaking career.
I grew up in Greendale and went to school at UW-Madison, where I studied political science and film criticism. I moved to Chicago, where I began a comedy career full-time. First as a performer working with comedy guru, Del Close ,and then moved to Los Angeles, where I became a writer/director as well in TV/films and commercials around the world. I will never forget you put my first feature, Chump Change in your Top Ten List that year. What a thrill!
Did you find the transition into documentary filmmaking difficult?
Yes. It has to be said that I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. I also had no clue on how to take care of my mom and fight a lawsuit, either, so I was flying blind times three. You just do it and figure it out as you go. Improvise. Overcome. And Adapt. I always loved documentaries and it seems my favorite ones always seem to be dealing with the pursuit of the truth. So that’s what I did. This was definitely a homemade, guerilla-type film - with huge chunks shot on an iPhone. Capturing the events was the easy part, cutting the film down from 400 hours to 90 minutes was a lot more difficult. Making documentaries is not for sissies.
