The Moral Difference between Faces & FaceTime

Area of Science:

• Medical Ethics
• Health Informatics
• Philosophy of Medicine

Background:

• Telemedicine technology predates the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The pandemic accelerated telemedicine adoption due to contagion risks.
• Existing literature often highlights telemedicine benefits without fully addressing limitations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To critically evaluate telemedicine's role in medical practice.
• To examine the epistemic and ethical implications of telemedicine.
• To argue against telemedicine as a complete substitute for in-person consultations.

Main Methods:

• Narrative account of telemedicine experiences.
• Philosophical critique of technology's impact on medicine.
• Analysis of how telemedicine affects the physician-patient relationship and medical goods.

Main Results:

• Telemedicine lacks the embodied encounter crucial for medicine, particularly the sense of touch.
• In-person visits may better foster a caring physician-patient relationship through individualized attention.
• Certain essential aspects of medical care may be diminished or unavailable via telemedicine.

Conclusions:

• Telemedicine offers benefits in specific contexts but is not a substitute for traditional office visits.
• Physicians should be wary of wholesale replacement of in-person care with telemedicine.
• Critiques of technology highlight the irreplaceable value of embodied interaction in medicine.