Medico-legal aspects of telemedicine practice with special reference to cross-border telemedicine practice between Hong Kong and mainland China

Abstract

Telemedicine has changed the methods of communications between health practitioners and patients by breaking both territorial frontiers and boundaries between different health professionals. It has also enhanced people’s access to health care for previously not-easily-accessible populations and improved quality of health service, as well as strengthened discourse between patients and health practitioners. However, the development of telemedicine is impeded by legal uncertainty, inter alia, as not every society pays sufficient legal attention to this technological advancement. Hong Kong and China are no exception. It is anticipated that the demand for cross-border clinical exchange and services between Hong Kong and China will grow. To facilitate a sustainable medical development, it is important to have a proper understanding on the law and regulations in the respective jurisdictions, especially the potential medico-legal liability of health practitioners and health institutes as well as the rights of patients before telemedical services rocket across the two territories. This thesis conducts a critical review to the potential medico-legal liability of cross-border telemedicine between Hong Kong and China with reference to international treaties, national/domestic laws, rules and regulations, professional guidelines and practical experiences in different countries, aiming at offering a legal reference to health practitioners and institutes providing the state-of-the-art services and to patients who receive online health services across the two territories. A further hope of this study is to at least arouse the interests of certain stakeholders with authority in checking the need for cross-border telemedicine, not for today but for tomorrow, and examining the current readiness including the legal aspects to support the sustainable growth of telemedicine in Hong Kong, China and across the two territories.

Date of Award	15 Feb 2013
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	City University of Hong Kong
Supervisor	M Joseph Anthony COORAY (Supervisor) & Huoy-cheng Stefan LO (Supervisor)