Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Dec;26(12):1427-1437.
doi: 10.1089/tmj.2019.0158. Epub 2020 Feb 12.

Telemedicine Practice: Review of the Current Ethical and Legal Challenges

Giulio Nittari  1 , Ravjyot Khuman  1 , Simone Baldoni  1 , Graziano Pallotta  1 , Gopi Battineni  1 , Ascanio Sirignano  2 , Francesco Amenta  1 , Giovanna Ricci  2
Affiliations

Telemedicine Practice: Review of the Current Ethical and Legal Challenges

Giulio Nittari et al. Telemed J E Health. 2020 Dec.

Abstract

Background: Telemedicine involves medical practice and information and communications technology. It has been proven to be very effective for remote health care, especially in areas with poor provision of health facilities. However, implementation of these technologies is often hampered by various issues. Among these, ethical and legal concerns are some of the more complex and diverse ones. In this study, an analysis of scientific literature was carried out to identify the ethical and legal challenges of telemedicine. Materials and Methods: English literature, published between 2010 and 2019, was searched on PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science by using keywords, including "Telemedicine," "Ethics," "Malpractice," "Telemedicine and Ethics," "Telemedicine and Informed consent," and "telemedicine and malpractice." Different types of articles were analyzed, including research articles, review articles, and qualitative studies. The abstracts were evaluated according to the selection criteria, using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale criteria, and the final analysis led to the inclusion of 22 articles. Discussion: From the aforementioned sample, we analyzed elements that may be indicative of the efficacy of telemedicine in an adequate time frame. Ethical aspects such as informed consent, protection data, confidentiality, physician's malpractice, and liability and telemedicine regulations were considered. Conclusions: Our objective was to highlight the current status and identify what still needs to be implemented in telemedicine with respect to ethical and legal standards. Gaps emerged between current legislation, legislators, service providers, different medical services, and most importantly patient interaction with his/her data and the use of that data.

Keywords: ethics; legal implications; malpractice; telemedicine; telemedicine practice.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

No competing financial interests exist.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
Preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) flowchart.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Fong B, Fong ACM, Li CK. Telemedicine technologies: information technologies in medicine and telehealth, 2010. DOI: 10.1002/9780470972151 - DOI
    1. Lucas H. Information and communications technology for future health systems in developing countries. Soc Sci Med 2008;66:2122–2132 - PubMed
    1. Burke BL, Hall RW. Telemedicine: Pediatric Applications. Pediatrics 2015;136:e293–e308 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Abidi SSR, Goh A, Yusoff Z. Telemedicine and medical informatics in the multimedia super corridor: The Malaysian vision. Stud Health Technol Inform 1998;52:1282–1286 - PubMed
    1. Chandwani RK, Dwivedi YK. Telemedicine in India: Current state, challenges and opportunities. Transform Gov People Process Policy 2015. DOI: 10.1108/TG-07-2015-0029 - DOI