Virtual Medical Devices and Vendor Liabilities

My essay "Virtual Medical Devices and Vendor Liabilities" was published at the HisTalk website, a website that serves as a healthcare IT industry news/gossip/watchdog site.

It addresses the hold-me-harmless, business IT-type claims made to Sen. Grassley by some healthcare IT vendors that they are "not liable when harm or loss results from the client�s use of the product in diagnosing and/or treating patients" (as indicated in Sen. Grassley's question #9 to hospitals here).

This is a somewhat absurdist claim, since these systems are not exactly sold to allow clinicians to play Super Mario:

Play games with our EMR, but use it to diagnose and treat patients at your own risk!

I make the point in my essay that an EMR and other clinical IT systems are virtual medical devices, that is, medical devices that happen to reside on a computer, and that healthcare IT vendors are indeed practicing medicine by cybernetic proxy (e.g., in provision of alerts and reminders and clinical decision support).

I also pointed out that a vendor claiming they are not liable when harm or loss results from the client�s use of the product in diagnosing and/or treating patients should put that disclaimer on every screen of their products.

Ultimately, I opine that if a healthcare IT vendor claims to be a partner to clinicians and clinical medicine, they should be willing to accept the responsibilities that accompany such a position and their claims of omnipotent ecstasy about healthcare IT "transforming" or "revolutionizing" healthcare.

See the essay at this link.

-- SS