L.A. Hospital Computer Malfunction Disrupts Trauma Center

The laboratory computer system at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center became overloaded shortly after it was started April 15.

Hospital officials said the backlog of blood-test results was so severe that emergency room doctors told the county to stop sending ambulances there for several hours Wednesday and again Thursday. The computer problems largely subsided after Thursday.

No deaths or serious injuries were reported. But doctors said the delayed results of the blood tests needed to confirm serious conditions such as heart attacks forced them to make treatment decisions based on educated guesses and experience.

"It's almost like practicing Third World medicine," said Dr. Amanda Garner. "We rely so much on our computers and our fast-world technology that we were almost blinded."

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About 100 chemotherapy patients received their weekly treatment up to a day late because essential blood tests were not processed, officials said. Other patients had to stay at the hospital for hours or days longer than needed because lab tests that would show they were ready to go home were held up.

"I don't mean to minimize all the stress," said Dr. David Altman, the hospital's chief medical officer. "The fact is that, at least as of this morning, we're not able to discern any specific cases where patients were harmed other than significant inconvenience."

The computer system apparently became overloaded once it was activated and a technical glitch kept it from communicating with the machine that processed tests. Lab technicians also struggled to solve problems with the system when it froze.

The county Department of Health Services expects to spend $22.1 million to install the lab computer system at all five county acute-care hospitals.

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