3 Dangers of Distracted Doctoring Put Patients at Risk for Medical Malpractice
Doctors are starting to recognize that smartphones can lead to negligence issues in healthcare beyond the issue of distracted doctoring, e.g., surgeons with smartphones in hand.
The Journal of General Internal Medicine published an opinion article entitled “Pitfalls of Smartphones in Medicine” that discusses some of the possible things that can go wrong, such as:
Medical errors from distorted communications caused by lack of signal, typing and autocorrect errors,
Email and message fatigue,
And my favorite, repetitive checking of messages that leads to inattention to important messages and the content of those messages.
Savvy Certified Legal Nurse Consultants know to advise attorney-clients to obtain copies of texts and email messages sent or received by the defendant doctors. These communications provide a wealth of information for both the plaintiff and defense in medical malpractice cases.
I’m Just Sayin’
P.S.Comment and share things you’ve seen MDs do with smartphones that put them at risk for medical malpractice.
One thought on “3 Dangers of Distracted Doctoring Put Patients at Risk for Medical Malpractice”
Doctors take pictures of a patient’s skin rash, wound, or anomaly and email it to a friend or colleague. That is a HIPAA violation and invasion of patient privacy. I heard one hospital risk manager say she would like to throw any cell phone that has a camera in the trash can!
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*The opinions and statements made by Vickie Milazzo, the founder of Medical-Legal Consulting Institute, Inc. are based on her experiences and expertise, should not be applied beyond the specific context provided, and do not guaranty or project actual results. Vickie Milazzo is no longer involved in the operations or management of the business, but is involved as an independent education consultant.
Doctors take pictures of a patient’s skin rash, wound, or anomaly and email it to a friend or colleague. That is a HIPAA violation and invasion of patient privacy. I heard one hospital risk manager say she would like to throw any cell phone that has a camera in the trash can!