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O U T P A T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E | J U LY 2 0 1 5
EMRs Can Be Your Friend or Foe in a Lawsuit
Electronic medical records can trip you up in court.
I
n a medical malpractice case, plaintiffs and defendants alike rely
heavily on the medical records to piece together what did and
didn't happen. In medical school, they taught me that if it wasn't
charted, it wasn't done. In medical malpractice law, I've learned that just
because something is charted doesn't mean it was done correctly — or
even done at all.
Lawyers have been dealing with altered patient records for as long
as they have been suing physicians. Rarely is a physician better at
matching pen colors and handwriting than the plaintiff's attorney will
be at spotting such an action. However, the days of handwritten
records are mostly in the past.
M E D I C A L M A L P R A C T I C E
Paul J. Molinaro, MD, JD
z DETAILED RECORD EMRs can
hurt you in a med mal lawsuit.
