A New And Quite Perverse Hospital Ploy to Defend Medical Malpractice - Blame the Patient? Two Examples

I did not think hospitals would ever get to the level of perversity, in defense of EHRs and EHR-related malpractice, seen herein.Just a few days ago I came across the following article on a web search.It is an astonishing story of a 49 year old man who died in part because an ED physician in a Suffern, NY hospital did not know how to use the EHR that had life saving diagnostic information within, and the hospital attempted to BLAME THE PATIENT for not "explaining his medical history thoroughly enough" to the ED doctor.You read that correctly.Ironically and sickeningly, yesterday my dead mother and I just had something similar done to us by a suburban Philadelphia hospital, Abington Memorial, as below: Family Awarded $3.4 Million After ER Misses Aneurysmhttp://blogs.lawyers.com/2012/02/family-awarded-3-4-million-after-er-misses-aneurysm/Posted February 17, 2012 in Medical Malpractice by writer Aaron KaseIt’s gospel in health care– if you have chest pains, get to the emergency room, especially if you have a history of heart problems. But an inexperienced ER doctor in New York thought his patient’s complaints weren’t serious, and sent him home with muscle relaxers. The result was deadly.A Rockland County jury Wednesday awarded $3.4 million to the family of Michael McKenzie, who was discharged from the Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern in 2007 after complaining of chest pains and other symptoms consistent with a serious heart problem. The hospital determined that McKenzi...
Source: Health Care Renewal - Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Tags: blame the patient Good Samaritan Hospital Suffern NY Aaron Kase Abington Memorial Hospital Regina Sturgis Michael McKenzie healthcare IT risks perverse defense of health IT Michael Kane Source Type: blogs