Updating digital discovery: It’s all on record | AMNews | 7.2.07
Digging up old e-mails and business records from a computer, backup server or PDA isn’t likely to be at the top of most doctors’ to-do lists. But if they are whisked into a lawsuit, that’s exactly what physicians must be prepared to do under new federal rules that address the discovery of electronically stored information.
Physician practices, like other businesses, are going from paper piles to digital files, and courts are catching up, experts say. Gone are the days when parties in a lawsuit could say they deleted e-mails or that electronic data are too difficult to find without facing severe penalties.
Big problem! Look what we’ve done with medical records…