Dr. Robert Pearl makes a valid point: we can computerize our banking records, even in my small town, and make them available online. Why can't we do this nationwide in every hospital for patient medical records? Dr. Pearl is the CEO of the Permanente Medical Group, which is leading efforts to computerize records in Northern California. And for Pearl, it's personal.
Pearl lost his father to medical error two years ago: doctors missed the fact, in medical records, that the senior Pearl had not been given a simple vaccine that would have saved his life. My own mother was a victim to pharamaceutical error a few years ago. She was given an incorrect dose of prednisone for rheumatoid arthritis which caused her multiple side effects and caused permanent vision damage before the error was corrected.
Of course, and as usual, the problem comes down to money: How do we pay to have patient medical records made availabe online? But this would revolutionize health care nationwide and beyond, if patients were traveling or moved and their doctors could access records simply and electronically. Imagine how many lives could be saved.
Note: The contents of this blog are for informational purposes only and should not be construed as medical advice or substitute for professional care. For medical emergencies, dial 911!
One doctor's personal fight to computerize medical records nationwide
Reader Comments
(Page 1)2. If you think online medical records is a good idea, then I doubt you have spent much time reading your own or anyone else's records, or you'd know how error-riddled many of them are. There's no quality control -- overtired doctors and others dictate errors in reports, which are frequently transcribed by people in India and Pakistan, and even in the US, who compound those errors, because medical transcripion has to be the most inefficient and error-prone way imaginable to document patient encounters, sort of like playing telephone with people's lives at stake.
We''ve all read stories detailing the countless hours of work people go through trying to correct an error in their credit reports. Can you imagine trying to correct an error in your medical records? Perhaps an overtired resident dictated that diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia with psychotic features into your record, after she got you confused with the last 5 patients she saw before she had time to dictate.
I'm sorry to hear about your mother, Jen, but how would online medical records have prevented the pharmaceutical error you described? That was simple human error, or ignorance, not a lack of information about your mother's medical condition.
Wasn't it Mother Jones magazine that reported that preventable medical error is the fifth leading cause of death in this country?
Posted at 3:11PM on Dec 26th 2005 by Tripichik
1. I agree with having medical records available.
Posted at 11:20PM on Dec 6th 2005 by Clara Pack