Electronic health records (EHRs) are designed to make your medical care faster and more efficient, improving data availability and legibility. This digital shift has brought great benefits to hospitals and clinics across New Jersey and New York City.
However, this simple convenience feature also poses a subtle danger. Doctors often use the “copy-and-paste” function to move data between your records; unfortunately, this practice can easily bypass critical reviews outlining updated information.
The ‘cloning’ of data
This easy-to-use function quickly clones old information into your current health record. A doctor can copy your past medical history or symptoms from weeks ago with a single click, which can create something called “note bloat.”
Important new data often gets buried beneath pages of irrelevant, copied text. The cloned data may be inaccurate in medical emergencies or for upcoming appointments, resulting in vital records that guide your care with outdated information.
Direct patient harm
Relying on these copied errors can lead directly to patient injury in New York and New Jersey facilities. The inaccurate record can become a threat to safety and treatment in cases involving:
- Medication errors: Your doctor might miss a recent medication change or drug allergy because they relied on an old, copied list. An outdated drug history can lead to a dangerous new prescription.
- Diagnostic delays: A medical professional might copy an old line that says “patient denies fever” from a past visit. They may then overlook a new, subtle complaint signaling a serious infection like sepsis.
The medical record exists to guide safe treatment decisions, communicate information among providers, provide a basis for billing and serve as legal evidence. When it contains inaccurate or outdated information, your risk of suffering serious harm increases significantly.
When does an EHR mistake rise to malpractice?
When errors from copied data cause a patient to suffer an injury, they can be evidence of a breach of the standard of care, which is a necessary element of a medical malpractice claim. An attorney must look closely at the timeline of EHR entries. Experienced lawyers investigate whether the provider’s breach of the accepted standard of care—such as by failing to verify information from a copied record—caused the injury that you suffered.
Pursuing complex medical malpractice claims that hinge on electronic records requires skilled legal representation to analyze the evidence and advocate for the injured patient effectively, due to the complexity of electronic discovery, including the analysis of EHR audit trails and metadata. The efficiency gained by a single click must never outweigh the necessity of a careful review. You rely on accurate, up-to-date documentation to receive safe and proper medical care.
