Ethical and legal challenges for health telematics in a global world: Telehealth and the technological imperative
Abstract
Telehealth is one of the more recent applications of ICT to health care. It promises to be both cost-effective and efficient. However, there lies a danger that focusing mainly on pragmatic considerations will ignore fundamental ethical issues with legal implications that could undermine its success. Implicated here are, among others, changes in the nature of the health care professional patient relationship and informed consent, etc. The position of health informatics professionals as well as hard- and software providers is also affected. A further complicating factor is outsourcing. This paper identifies relevant issues and outlines some of their implications.
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Scholars noted that patients need help and education to navigate new ways of obtaining care, and noted the implications of using the services.
“Scholars also commented on patients' need for assistance and education to navigate the new ways to get care and implications of using the services [34,[38], [39]].”
From REVISITING HEALTH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ETHICAL, LEGAL, and SOCIAL ISSUES and EVALUATION: TELEHEALTH/TELEMEDICINE and COVID-19 (2020) · cites this paper as [38]
Related concerns centered on the opacity of end-user agreements for commercial services and apps, putting meaningful consent and privacy in question.
“Related concerns focused on opacity of end-user agreements for commercial services and apps, with issues of meaningful consent and privacy in question [34,38].”
From REVISITING HEALTH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ETHICAL, LEGAL, and SOCIAL ISSUES and EVALUATION: TELEHEALTH/TELEMEDICINE and COVID-19 (2020) · cites this paper as [38]
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- Authors
- Kluge, E.-H. W.
- Affiliations
- University of Victoria (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Kluge, Eike-Henner W.
- Venue
- International Journal of Medical Informatics
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2011-02
- Volume
- 80
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- e1-e5
- ISSN
- 1386-5056 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1987338477
- Cited by
- 90
- References
- 32
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 7 · 2018: 5 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 9 · 2014: 15 · 2013: 7 · 2012: 4
- FWCI
- 3.82
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- International Journal of Medical Informatics (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DigitalGeorgetown (Georgetown University Library) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Telemedicine and Telehealth Implementation
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Medical and Health Sciences Research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Ethics and bioethics in healthcare
- Keywords
- telemedicine, health telematics, ethics, informed consent, outsourcing, information and communication technology in healthcare
- MeSH terms
- Confidentiality, Delivery of Health Care, Humans, Informed Consent, Technology, Global Health, Telemedicine
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