A Case of Murder and EHRs -- Chapter Six
A Case of Murder and EHRs
Copyright 2007 by Peter J. Groen and Jaime Nasuti.
Published with permission of the co-authors.
CHAPTER SIX
Dr. Rose was a relatively new physician on the medical staff of the hospital. Upon hearing of the presidential hopeful's admittance to the hospital, Dr. Rose decided to take a quick look at the medical record of Congressman Martin. It was not that he had any need to look at the record, but he was disturbed by this upstart politician's liberal position on health care and just wanted to know more about this man with whom he strongly disagreed on so many levels.
If he could be the one to keep Stan Martin from continuing on his quest for the presidency, he would be held up as a hero by some of his peers. He might also just get that position he had been dreaming about at the highly prestigious Johns Hopkins medical center. He decided to use the VA's EHR system to learn more about the patient. How ironic, he thought, to use the very type of system Congressman Martin was promoting to bring about his downfall. If the system could be used to harm the congressman, that would prove his plan for a national health care system and the use of EHR systems was wrong and just might just cause him to lose the election.
Dr. Rose reasoned with himself that he was doing this for the betterment of the citizens of this country.
Logging in at a nearby computer console, Dr. Rose pulled up Stan Martin's electronic chart. With adrenaline pumping, he felt a deep urge to do something to keep this candidate off his feet. The longer he was not on the campaign trail, the better it would be for his opponents. Dr. Rose knew that this candidate for president was bad news for health care and private industry.
Seeing no one around, Dr. Rose quickly placed a pharmacy order, logged off the computer, and walked away.