Politico: Electronic record errors growing issue in lawsuits

The indefatigable Arthur Allen of Politico.com has authored a nice piece on the issue of EHRs being a cause of medical malpractice, with resultant litigation.  I was a contributor:Electronic record errors growing issue in lawsuitsBy Arthur Allen5/4/15 6:40 AM EDThttp://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/electronic-record-errors-growing-issue-in-lawsuits-117591.htmlMedical errors that can be traced to the automation of the U.S. health care system are increasingly an issue in medical malpractice lawsuits.Some of the doctors, attorneys and health IT experts involved in the litigation fear that safety and data integrity problems could undercut the benefits of electronic health records unless HHS and Congress address them aggressively.I already believe the benefits of EHR technology have been severely undercut - if not destroyed - by the unbelievably poor quality, user experience and incompetent implementations presented by most commercial health IT software today.I even have a dead mother to offer as evidence, due to an ED EHR's lack of fundamental and crucial confirmation dialogs and notification messages to team members.  These computer science-101 level deficiencies permitted a triage nurse's failure to successfully click a heart medication for continuation to propagate through several days of ICU/floor hospitalization unnoticed.  Gross overconfidence in computer output and cavalier attitudes in the ICU about med reconciliation sealed the deal, where, recognizing so...
Source: Health Care Renewal - Category: Health Management Tags: Arthur Allen healthcare IT litigation healthcare IT risk Politico Source Type: blogs