Doctors Tread Carefully With Privacy at Stake

Re “Writing Is on the Wall for Physicians,” Voices, Jan. 31: Registered nurse Lillian Gonzalez suggests that there exists a group of resistant, arrogant, computer-illiterate doctors who are more willing to see continued medical errors occur than change their ways. How does she explain doctors like me who use computers in every other part of their lives but don’t agree with those like Gonzalez who see computers as a panacea for error-free care?

Doctors have different functions and needs than nurses. Part of our advocacy role is to the community as a whole. Until there are enough safeguards to guarantee the confidentiality of electronically transmitted information, many doctors will continue to assess carefully, and conservatively, the change to a “paperless” system.

Nicolas Wieder

Los Angeles