My mom has multiple myeloma. She’s on medications that are adversely affecting her potassium levels. So much so, that one day, I was directed to take her to the hospital emergency room right away.

While there, we first had to wait in the hallway – all the rooms were filled. That wasn’t ideal, but we were fine. Then they did find us a room with a few other patients. A doctor came in to talk to the patient in the bed next to us. We heard him ask: So, you have a fever? And you’re coughing up sputum – what color?

Well, that was all I had to hear. I went out immediately to speak with a nurse. I told her my mom has cancer and the patient next to her seems quite ill.

(For those who don’t know, cancer patients are particularly susceptible to catching colds, flu, etc. In fact, it’s made quite clear that cancer patients have to avoid people who have any contagious illness no matter how minor.)

Well, the attendant did take steps to have my mom moved out of that room. The attendant who put her in that room in the first place was then chastised by the nurse. He said he didn’t know anything about my mom having cancer – no one had told him.

I had told the hospital staff as we came in and registered that my mom has cancer. I repeated it to the nurse. So why didn’t the attendant know? Apparently, that hospital still runs on paper – not fully automated. Now I know a lot of doctors have reams of reasons why they shouldn’t have to learn a new system. Mostly, they revolve around making a doctor learn a new system – how inconvenient.

But where does the patient’s safety fit in that argument? Once again, the patient is the last in line when it comes to healthcare. We need to insist, yes, even legislate the installation of computer systems for medical care and the collection of results by medical condition adjusted for patient risk. Healthcare needs to return to being about a patient’s health.

(See my The Public Interest blog: www.the-pi.info or website: www.the-pi.org for details and comments. A point of interest: some doctor s have found that, by switching to computers, doctors can safely increase patient service while reducing errors.)