You’ve probably heard of the Barry Brock lawsuit and you have undoubtedly been horrified by it. But have you ever wondered, what could have been done to prevent it? Can we do something to prevent cases like these from happening in the future? Is technology the answer? What if our healthcare system didn’t just promise that the patients will be safe, but guaranteed it? This might be hard to imagine, but that doesn’t mean that it’s impossible.
In the past few years, we have seen things change. New laws, regulations, more victims speaking out… But all of this has happened after the people were already harmed and, as great as changes like these are, they’ve come too late.
Technology could be just what the healthcare system needs. There’s hardly anything it can’t do these days, so why not use it to protect patients and hold institutions accountable? When you put the latest technology and improved oversight together, predators don’t stand a chance.
The Barry Brock sexual abuse lawsuit is a dark reminder that we need to do much, much more in order to protect patients across the country. In healthcare, a lot of misconduct never comes to light because the victims are scared or ashamed, which means predators can continue abusing their patients.
But technology has a lot of potential to stop this. Here’s how it can help.
Conventional surveillance has a purpose, but it’s not enough. AI can be used to keep an eye on how the patients interact with the staff in a non-invasive way. With real-time analysis of video feeds and sensor data, AI algorithms can detect everything that’s out of the ordinary.
For example, if a healthcare provider keeps spending too much time alone with a patient outside of normal protocols, it can trigger an alert for a supervisory review. AI’s biggest plus is that it can act immediately.
EHRs (electronic health records) have a huge amount of data that can be used to spot suspicious patterns of behavior. When you apply advanced behavioral analytics to EHRs, they can detect red flags, like frequent unsupervised visits by a specific medical professional or unusual patterns in scheduling.
If the records are analyzed constantly, the system will automatically flag anything strange and make sure that anything that deviates from the standards is investigated right away.
Blockchain technology can make sure that reports of misconduct are safe and can’t be altered. In a lot of cases, reports on abuse are hidden or changed, so it’s hard to keep the predators accountable. Blockchain can help here because it can create permanent records that nobody can tamper with.
This will guarantee that every single report is intact and can be trusted.
Most victims that don’t report abuse are scared of retaliation, so they keep quiet. Anonymous reporting systems can help here because they can give patients and staff a safe way to report problems without revealing who they are.
These systems use encryption to protect all information on the person filing the report and make sure everyone stays anonymous. Reports can then be sent straight to oversight teams, which will make sure responses are fast.
If everything was black and white, technology would have already been in use. One of the biggest issues is privacy.
Patients and staff probably wouldn’t feel too comfortable if they were constantly watched, so before implementing a new system, it’s important to make sure it won’t invade anyone’s personal space or dignity. To make this easier, there should be clear rules about when and where monitoring happens.
Another problem is security. These systems would collect highly sensitive information, and there’s always a risk of hacking or data leaks. To make it as safe as possible, there should be extremely strong cybersecurity measures in place to protect this information.
Of course, we can’t forget about the cost. That’s always an issue. Modern technology is expensive, especially if it’s this advanced, and a smaller healthcare facility probably wouldn’t be able to afford it. A way around this would be to implement it step by step; so, one tool at a time, focusing on the ones that are the most important.
The Barry Brock case is a wake-up call that shows what happens when institutions don’t react on time to stop the abuse. Without technology, Cedars Sinai was able to get away with this for far too long even though complaints were being filed for years.
With technology in place, this wouldn't have happened because, as tragic as that is, technology has a better chance of keeping us safe than we do. Yes, there are concerns around it, but haven’t things come too far to worry about them so much?