Legal and ethical issues arise in telemedicine regarding beneficence and increasing access to care. While telemedicine can improve quality by increasing accessibility, it may only benefit those with resources. There are also concerns about data control remaining with health organizations and potential ambiguities in practitioner responsibilities between loyalty to patients or their employers as remote care could focus solely on health problems rather than holistic needs.
What are the ethical and legal concerns associated with managing tel.pdf
1. What are the ethical and legal concerns associated with managing telemedicine?
Solution
Legal and ethical issues associated with managing telemedicine :-
The ethical principle of beneficence to justify using technologies to increase access to care and
reduce costs. They argued that an efficient service meant a better service in terms of quality of
care, mainly by increasing accessibility by minimising traditional barriers created by time and
location. However, only people with the resources to gain access benefit.
Control of data remains in the health organisation’s jurisdiction. This is an advantage when
coordinating a multiprofessional team as data can be readily dispersed.
There are potential ambiguities in practitioners’ responsibilities, in terms of loyalty to patients or
the employer. For example, if staff do not have physical/live contact with patients so are not
aware of their holistic needs, this could cause them to focus on investigating the health problem
rather than establishing a rapport. Staff could therefore become more committed to their
employer than to patients.