While vacationing in Orlando, a Washingtonian slips and breaks his leg. While being taken to the Emergency Room, the ambulance relays ahead a download request for his universal patient care record. This electronic record contains his complete medical history, but only restricted fields are available to the ER doctors. One crucial field describes the medications he is allergic to.
By the time he arrives, his health maintenance company has already been notified and has approved the procedures for setting his broken leg. All he needs to do is sign an electronic form; all of the other relevant information (medical history, insurance coverage, home address, contact, etc. ) has been automatically filled in.
He is wheeled into the X-ray room, where the X-ray is taken and immediately rendered onto a high resolution display. A copy of the X-ray is automatically forwarded to his primary care physician back in Washington.
Since the fracture is fairly straightforward, he is next moved to the operating room. The room is filled with wall-sized displays, reporting his vital signs and the read- outs of the various medical equipment. After placing the patient under anesthetic, the doctor quickly sets the fracture.
Next step is the recovery room and his hospital room. Wearing a small device on his wrist, the patient's vital signs are relayed to the hospital's information infrastructure, where his "chart" can be viewed by his physician on any of the displays within the hospital or even at the office of his doctor back in Washington.
The next day, he is released, and his hospital and medical bills already have been settled by his insurance company.