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Vol. 15 No. 1 (2022)

Articles

Telemedicine in the Past and Now – Polish Regulatory Framework and the Scope of Civil and Criminal Liability of the Medical Staff

DOI: https://doi.org/10.32084/tkp.4459  [Google Scholar]
Published: 2022-06-29

Abstract

The development of telemedicine prompts us to focus on legal aspects related to the provision of ICT services by physician, as well as criminal liability for causing exposure to immediate risk of loss of life or health, as well as civil liability in the event of damage, excluding issues related to the provision of services by persons performing other medical professions (e.g. nurses, midwives, laboratory diagnosticians, pharmacists). Although telemedicine has become a permanent part of the scenario of providing services, the provisions of law refer to the discussed issue in a fragmentary manner. At the same time, the specificity of services implies a wide risk of the guarantor’s criminal liability for exposing the patient to the immediate risk of loss of life or health. The above is directly related to the omission of personal doctor-patient contact, which increases the probability of making a diagnostic or therapeutic error. Before the entry into force on 12 December 2015 of the Act of 9 October 2015 amending the Act on the information system in health care [...], only individual legal regulations related to the use of ICT to provide health services, as well as documents on the principles of medical ethics and deontology. Currently, there are no doubts that the provision of health services with the use of ICT is permissible and in accordance with the applicable law. The pandemic period contributed to the introduction of provisions regulating the principles of providing health services with the use of ICT in strictly defined areas, including, inter alia, primary health care.

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