Legal pitfalls in teleneuropathology

This study aims to emphasize legal pitfalls, especially the often underestimated liability issues for both clients of telemedicine and "tele-doctors". The main relevance of telemedicine lies in its capability to link medical practitioners and remote hospitals to larger or specialized facilities in a very fast electronic manner. This may become even more important due to current increases in subspecialization and the demand for more precise diagnosis and consultation in difficult cases. However, every potential user or client of telemedicine should keep in mind that several questions of law are involved.

In this paper, two case studies representative of practical teleneuropathology scenarios are described. The assessment of the legal implications is focused on the personal liability of the teleneuropathologist.

The far-reaching personal liability of the teleneuropathologist can lead to situations in which neither the insurance of the hospital nor the private professional liability insurance could be called on to refund possible damages for health impairments of a patient.

In Germany, a contractual exclusion of liability in health matters is not admissible. With regard to the European situation, international agreements such as a European telemedicine law could be conducive to the future border-crossing development of telemedicine though, to date, the legal competencies remain with the single member countries of the European Community.