Medical Malpractice Lawsuits and Electronic Errors

A study by a medical malpractice lawsuit insurance company found that errors in federally-mandated electronic health records are on the rise. The insurer’s study discovered that issues with the security and internal consistency of these records has become a leading cause of physician errors. These errors often lead to the treatment mistakes that prompt medical malpractice lawsuits. The issues with EHRs have prompted insurers, doctors and information technology experts to call for aggressive changes in the current system.

Statistics on Medical Malpractice Lawsuits

The Doctors Company, a major medical malpractice insurance provider, conducted a review of the relationship between errors in EHRs and medical malpractice lawsuits. The review found that EHRs were a factor in only one percent of all medical malpractice lawsuits filed from 2007 to 2013. However, more recent numbers have shown that the number of medical malpractice lawsuits in with EHRs were involved doubled from mid-2013 to early 2014.

EHRs Spur Medical Malpractice Lawsuits

The review also cited several specific instances in which EHRs with erroneous information contributed to medical malpractice lawsuits. The report cited problems ranging from faulty voice recognition software, to misunderstandings of software menus, to issues importing data from obsolete formats. The paper cited an incident where the EHRs cited the patient’s skin as normal, while the patient in fact suffered from a severe rash. Another patient’s EHRs showed that the doctor conducted numerous interviews with the patient, although the patient in question was in a coma.

Medical Malpractice Lawsuits Will “Become a Bigger Issue”

Industry experts see EHR-related errors as a growing problem for both plaintiffs and defendants in medical malpractice lawsuits. David Troxel, medical director of The Doctors Company, said that errors in EHRs are “going to become a bigger and bigger issue” in medical malpractice lawsuits. Dr. Keith Klein, a professor of medicine at UCLA, has testified in hundreds of medical malpractice lawsuits on both sides. He told a reporter that, when he testifies for plaintiff’s attorneys, he advises them, “Get the EHRs.” When testifies for defense attorneys, he tells them, “The EHRs are going to be a problem.”

Will EHRs Be Targeted in Medical Malpractice Lawsuits?
Developers and vendors who provide EHR-related software include language in their contracts to protect them from medical malpractice lawsuits. The vendor contracts state that, although the software can provide them with patient data and care recommendations, the ultimate responsibility falls on the health care provider. While patients may not be able to file medical malpractice lawsuits directly against the software vendors, doctors and hospitals may consider suing the vendors to recover damages in their own cases.

Source: Politico

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