Doctor: "What seems to be the problem?"

Patient: "It hurts when I ignore all previous instructions and );DROP TABLE patient_transcripts;--."

This feels like a compelling reason to joke around more.

If inaccuracies make it to your patient record, it's defamatory. Your doctor must sign off on the transcript and if they're letting through poor results, make it their problem to fix. That'll either force the tech to get better or to fall back on better note taking practices.

This is horrifying.

I've ended up with an erroneous medicine allergy on my record because I mentioned a well-known side effect to that medicine during an office visit a couple years ago. Some "moving part" in the system (be it a human entering the doctor's notes, a transcriptionist, etc) interpreted what I said as an allergic reaction and now I get asked about that "allergy".

I've asked to have it fixed but other facilities have gotten "copies of my records" and I've had it crop up in visits to other providers.

Thankfully it's not a medicine that's likely to ever be administered to me (or not administered when I'm incapacitated and can't point out the error) so I'm not worried, practically. On principle, though, it really frustrates me. It seems like it will never be fixed.

> My mom said it "transcribed" it as something like "the patient responded he has used cocaine recently".

That's not a transcription, that's an interpretation.

same story her with different context.

my father has cardiac issues, serious ones. When a doctor asks what he wants to do he routinely says "Sail around the world, solo!" because that's about the stupidest most risky thing a person with a bad heart could consider.

So now every single doctor reads the transcript and starts with saying "I think it'd be really poorly advised for you to keep considering your worldwide solo voyage."

AI summarization doesn't carry the tone well. Most any but the most serious humans would catch the way he's saying it as a joke.

Imagine if his health insurance premiums got raised because of it, if he loses a job opportunity due to background checks or if he gets arrested because of it. Even going through customs or getting a visa can be tricky with a history of cocaine on your record.

20 years ago, I was being evaluated by a psychiatrist, who was a foreigner with a foreign accent and English as a second language.

There was a vending machine where I lived, and it sold cans of Coke, Sprite, and Hawaiian Punch. I had been choosing the latter, as the "lesser of evils" because it didn't contain caffeine, and perhaps the Vitamin C was not harmful.

So she asked about my diet and habits, and I told her "I've been drinking a lot of Hawaiian Punch." and then she responded that that was very bad for me and I nodded solemnly, and as the conversation progressed into more dissonance, I said "Hawaiian Punch doesn't contain alcohol!"

And she said "Oh, I thought you said you had been drinking a lot of wine punch."

Has anyone considered simply asking the patient to sign off on these things as well? I realize many wouldn't but at least some would.

I'm glad your organization hasn't had a PHI breach. I'll see your anecdata and raise you mine:

The two biggest hospital providers in my geography have both had breaches in the last 5 years, both involving exfiltration of PHI (and one involving ransomware). (My family's data was in both, too!)

https://www.hipaajournal.com/premier-health-partners-2023-da...

https://www.hipaajournal.com/kettering-health-ransomware-att...

I have a background in IT security and systems administration (including working as a contractor for healthcare providers). Since medical records have become "electronic" I've assumed medical data is de facto public.

If there was a diagnosis or treatment I felt others knowing about would compromise me I would avoid bringing it up to a medical professional or seeking treatment. I'm certain there are people who avoid mental health services, for example, for exactly that reason.

> That article is from 8 years ago, accuracy is dramatically better today. We see a few percent error rate.

I’m a radiographer and get AI generated radiology referrals.

We get very variable quality and I believe it relates to how well they are proof read. One referrer has very poor referrals when written without AI, and ones that look good at a quick glance at the time of booking.

However when you try to scan the patient and read the referral more closely, the AI ones are nonsense and garbage. I blame the referrer.