Doctors barred from discussing safety glitches in US-funded software

President Barack Obama's stimulus put taxpayers on the hook for $30 billion in electronic medical records, many of which have turned out to be technological disasters. But don't expect to hear about the problems from doctors or hospitals. Most of them are under gag orders not to discuss the specific failings of their systems — even though poor technology in hospitals can have lethal consequences. A POLITICO investigation found that some of the biggest firms marketing electronic record systems inserted "gag clauses" in their taxpayer-subsidized contracts, effectively forbidding health care providers from talking about glitches that slow their work and potentially jeopardize patients.