OPINION: Washington prisons should update to electronic health records

This editorial was published in the Seattle Times.
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When Paula Gardner was incarcerated in the Washington Corrections Center for Women in Gig Harbor, she went two years with a diagnosis that showed she likely had cancer. Still, Department of Corrections physicians didn’t administer the needed care until her cervical cancer grew into a terminal condition.
Kenny Williams died in 2019 at Monroe (Wash.) Correctional Complex after a battle with cancer that went untreated for years as his pleas for medical care went ignored.
Both are examples of a widespread problem that was brought to light in an investigation into how 11 inmates with cancer were denied adequate medical treatment over a span of about five years leading up to 2020.
That failure cost several people their lives and taxpayers millions of dollars. The state paid $9.9 million to settle a lawsuit filed on behalf of Gardner and her sons in 2024. This year, the latest lawsuit brought by the family of an inmate who died of cancer after delayed treatment resulted in a $6 million settlement.
The problem has plagued the agency for so long that it raises the question: Is it incompetence or the failure of an outdated medical system?
One would think a Washington governmental department would have the latest technology available at its fingertips. Think again.
When it comes to inmates’ care, their medical records are still produced and updated on paper, instead of electronically like more than 90% of Washingtonians. That needs to change.
In fact, an investigative report in 2021 by the Office of the Corrections Ombuds cited the paper records as a problem that is ripe for errors and contributed to the delay in medical care in some of the 11 cancer deaths cited. It recommended the DOC switch to electronic health records. Four years later, the DOC is still in the process of doing just that. It has contracted with Epic Systems, a medical software developer and creator of MyChart, to move the state into the 21st century.
In many of the deaths, a lack of communication and follow-up was blamed for the delayed medical care. An electronic system would help alleviate that problem. The cost of a fully integrated system, one that corresponds to medical records housed by other state departments, would cost upward of $100 million. Though the state is expected to continue with budget challenges, investing in modern technology is well worth it.
That’s because the majority of the 13,000 people currently incarcerated in Washington eventually will be released. Better equipment and better care from more qualified medical providers will help incarcerated people as they transition into society.
Since the investigative report, the DOC has made some improvements, including hiring a new chief medical officer in 2022. The DOC also now requires its physicians to be nationally board certified.
The state has a responsibility to provide adequate health care to people in their custody, regardless of their criminal background. Incarceration should be their punishment, not their medical treatment, or lack there of.
TNS