Medical Pitfalls Authors Fall Into

It's my pleasure to welcome Jordyn Redwood as our guest today on Crime Fiction Collective. She and I have hung out together at the Citizen's Police Academy and driven across town to attend a series of lectures on sexual homicide. Some might say we're strange, but I'm betting that the readers of this blog understand our friendship and how we choose to spend time together.

Jordyn is a pediatric ER nurse by day, suspense novelist by night. Her debut medical thriller, Proof, examines the real life possibility of DNA testing setting a guilty criminal free. It has been endorsed by the likes of Lynette Eason, Dr. Harry Kraus, and Rick Acker to name a few. You can find out more about Jordyn by visiting her blog: www.redwoodsmedicaledge.com and website: www.jordynredwood.net.

****

One of the reasons I created my medical blog for authors, Redwood’s Medical Edge, was to right some of the wrongs in published works—traditional and self-pubbed—that caused me to want to toss the book aside and move onto to something else.

A reader, even one who primarily reads fiction, wants to trust you as an author. Part of building that trust is doing your research to make sure the details are authentic. The more close to real life you write, the more believable your fiction is. Strange, right?

So, as a medical professional of almost twenty years, these are a few author type pitfalls that will signal to me that an author has not done their research and I begin to wonder what other details of the ms they’ve been loose with.

1. Referring to an ECG as an EKG: This is relatively common and you’ll likely be given a pass on this because as medical professionals communicate with one another—we still will say “EKG” but the correct terminology is ECG. An ECG comes from electrocardiogram and is when we attach patches to your chest to look at the electrical activity of your heart.

2. Use of needles: There are instances where needles are still used. Primarily, they are used for starting IV’s, giving intramuscular (IM) injections, suturing and for drawing up a medication from a medication vial. However, what’s left in place after an IV is started is not a needle but a plastic catheter. Giving medications through an IV line is done with a blunt tipped plastic “needle”. I don’t know of a hospital that doesn’t use “needleless systems” that are designed to reduce needle stick injuries among healthcare professional. Be sure you’re referring to the right type of equipment for your scene.

3. Anatomical Issues: These are the most annoying because they are the easiest to research on your own. I’ve seen in published novels where the spleen is on the right side (it’s on the left), and the clavicle referred to as a scapula (your collar bone versus your shoulder blade.) Easiest way to determine where a certain organ/bone is would be to Google search specifically—“what side is the spleen on?”

4. HIPAA Violations: Which stands for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. This is the law that governs patient privacy and is the notification you likely receive (and subsequently throw away) each time you visit a doctor that dictates how your health information is shared. Let’s look at an example—I take care of a neighbor’s child in the ER during a shift. If my husband calls me at work, I can’t say, “Hey, Kim is here with her daughter. She broke her arm.” This is a violation of HIPAA. Now, I can share that information if Kim says I can do so but she has to give permission. Types of HIPAA violations I’ve seen in published novels? A nurse giving patient information to a reporter—this is a huge no-no. All information released to the press is done through the public relations office. This is drilled into every medical professional’s head from the get-go. A medical person giving info to a spouse. And from real life, a local news station that shot an interview where the patient tracking board was in the backdrop. All big no-no’s.

5. Injuries that heal too quickly: Sure, you want conflict and sometimes conflict means someone taking a bullet or being in a car accident or any number of ways you want to injure and maim a character. The problem usually is after the injury. Your hero that took a bullet to the arm is easily shooting with it the next day with subsequent ease. Make sure whatever injury your character suffers, the result of the injury is reflected in the manuscript. If you break your femur, you will not be running the next day.

What medical inaccuracies have you seen in published fiction?








Dr. Lilly Reeves is a young, accomplished ER physician with her whole life ahead of her. But that life instantly changes when she becomes the fifth victim of a serial rapist. Believing it's the only way to recover her reputation and secure peace for herself, Lilly sets out to find--and punish--her assailant. Sporting a mysterious tattoo and unusually colored eyes, the rapist should be easy to identify. He even leaves what police would consider solid evidence. But when Lilly believes she has found him, DNA testing clears him as a suspect. How can she prove he is guilty, if science says he is not?