Legal Timestamp in MS Access 2003

[John S. Ford, MD]

This may be too general for these newsgroups but I'm going to try. Is there
any way for MS Access 2003 to generate a timestamp at the time a report is
created that is unalterable and that will carry legal weight?

In other words, if I'm writing an application to store medical progress
notes and print them in the form of an Access report, I want the copy to
have a timestamp that shows precisely when the report was printed. I
realize that I can use the Time() function and fill a DateOfProgressNote
field.

Clearly, however, one could later go back and "alter" that value in the
original table from which the report was generated and reprint it. This
would obviously cause me to lose any "legal" legitimacy.

If this question isn't appropriate for these groups, can anyone point me to
where I might find some answers?

John

--
-------------------------------------------------------
John S. Ford, MD, MPH
Assistant Professor of Medicine
David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
Harbor-UCLA Medical Center
(e-mail address removed)
http://califmedicineman.blogspot.com

 

[scubadiver]

You can put times and dates in the report itself. Put the following into an
unbound text box in the footer

=Format(Date(),"Long Date") & " " & Format(Time(),"Long Time")

 

[Albert D. Kallal]

I would assume that you simply have the timestamp display on the bottom page
margin
when the report was printed.

There really nothing more you can do. This is not one bit of different of
writing a letter, and printing the date at the top, or beginning of the
letter as is traditionally done.

So, having the date print on your report is going to be no more, or less
legal here.

I have to assume that you have in the footing of the report with a page
number, and also the date + time that the report was printed. I done this
for years, not for legal reasons, but when you print 3 repots in a day, and
place them on you desk...which one is the latest?

Anyway, placing a date in a letter you write, or simply having a date
display on the bottom of the report should not make this any less, or more
valid or more legal then a person typing in the date in a document they made
in word....

Clearly, however, one could later go back and "alter" that value in the
original table from which the report was generated and reprint it

Sure, and a person can go back to any legal document they created in word,
and change the date also. So, I don't this has anything to do with software,
but just the "other" computer we have between our ears.

I would just have the timestamp printed/included on the reports bottom
margin along with the page number (1 of 5) or whatever. If you need both the
date this report was printed the *first* time, you can do that, but I would
always include the *now* time stamp in the footing.

I can't see this as being ANY different, or more or less legal then any
letter or other document you write. About the only difference in a letter is
that you sign it.

I suppose you could included some signore area in the reports footer like:

Signature _____________________ on Sep. 14, 2007

I mean, you can go back to just about any document you make in a computer
and change the date on something you written. I am at a loss as to how, or
why a date on a report would be any different then that of a letter?

 

[Guest]

Microsoft Windows doesn't have the tight integration with
printer hardware that secure printing requires.

You can buy printers that will add a date stamp to printed
documents, but even they 'can' be reprogrammed -- what
you need for security is separation of function, so that the
people who might want to change the print date are not the
same as the people who can change the print date.

Separation of function is a standard business practice, but
I've never seen it have anything to do with 'legal' certification.
I have never seen a reference to automatic 'legal' certification
at all -- I have only seen 'legal' certification tied back to a
person who endorses it. So photographic evidence in court
is evidence because there is a 'chain of evidence' with each
link endorsed by a person. Electronically sealed engineering
drawings are sealed by a professional engineer.

I have implemented 'separation of function' for reports --
the report uses an owner permission query to write a print
record into a separate database, and the report date can
be compared to the report record and to the report record
date sequence -- but that assumes that the management
interest is in correct accounting. When you want to be
independent of management, you have to take the record
keeping outside: send a copy of the report to a record-
keeping lawyer at the time of printing.

(david)

 

[Chuck]

This may be too general for these newsgroups but I'm going to try. Is there
any way for MS Access 2003 to generate a timestamp at the time a report is
created that is unalterable and that will carry legal weight?

In other words, if I'm writing an application to store medical progress
notes and print them in the form of an Access report, I want the copy to
have a timestamp that shows precisely when the report was printed. I
realize that I can use the Time() function and fill a DateOfProgressNote
field.

Clearly, however, one could later go back and "alter" that value in the
original table from which the report was generated and reprint it. This
would obviously cause me to lose any "legal" legitimacy.

If this question isn't appropriate for these groups, can anyone point me to
where I might find some answers?

John

The short answer is no. Anything saved electronically can be changed. You can
change the hexadecimal code inside a complied exe file if you want to badly
enough.

Chuck
--

 

[Anthony Bollinger]

Short answer is that, with standard computer/printer, no. You can change
Windows time/date and you can print any text you want at any time. A
printed document with a date will probably have the exact same legal weight
as a handwritten document with a date. That is, I would think legally the
date printed would be considered, but everyone knows a handwritten or
printed date can be forged, so there must be good corroborative evidence
that the date was accurate at the time it was written or generated. To get
a legally bulletproof date mechanism, you would have to buy or create a
system that was demonstrably secure in this area, probably something
custom-designed.

HTH,
Tony