Healthcare Administration Leadership & Management Journal
Telemedicine: Physicians Would Be Prudent to Mitigate Liability Risk
Telemedicine is a complex physician–patient interaction. As a fiduciary to the patient, a physician must understand all the complex medical, legal, and ethical issues inherent to the practice of telemedicine.
May/June 2023 Vol. 1, No. 2 pp. 78–80 DOI: 10.55834/halmj.3514899307
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the widespread introduction and use of telemedicine in academic and private practices across the United States. Physicians were introduced to telemedicine without an understanding of how their fiduciary duties were to be handled in this new paradigm of a doctor–patient relationship over video-conferencing. The learning curve is steep, and there are many medical, legal, and ethical issues that need to be understood for physicians to meet the new duties of telemedicine and avoid the potential for liability.
