A New Way to Avoid Medical Malpractice: Palm Scanning
Side Note: Avoiding errors is one good way for physicians to try and avoid medical malpractice lawsuits. But, rather than keeping all of the responsibility on the physicians’ and staffs’ shoulders, how about asking patients to do their part?
A new, Biometric palm-scanning technology is being rolled out at New York University’s Langone Medical Center. The technology relies upon the principle that an individual’s lace of veins in his or her palm is unique, like a fingerprint or iris. This technology is then used to identify patients. In addition to increased patient safety, one of the many added benefits of the technology is that patients don’t have to be conscious to be identified (like in the ER). The institution purchased 250 scanners at a price of $200,000. And, since early June, over 25,000 patients have already been enrolled and only less than one percent of individuals have declined to have their palms scanned.
With all of your dedication to preventing errors and avoiding having to use your medical malpractice insurance, isn’t it nice to know that patients are now starting to do their part, too?
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Palms scanned to cut medical errors at NYC hospital
By Jonathan Allen
From: reuters.com
Posted: Thu Jul 28, 2011
A New York City hospital has stopped asking many patients to dig out health insurance cards and fill in endless forms, instead identifying them by scanning the unique lattice of veins in their palm.
The new biometric technology employed by New York University’s Langone Medical Center was expected to speed up patient check-ins and eliminate medical errors.
