A physician in New York performs surgery tele-robotically on a patient at a hospital, assisted by local physicians. A physician provides “electronic house calls” by responding to general health questions through the Internet. Radiologists at a hospital read x-rays from patients on the other side of the world. While one could imagine this as a vision of the future, these telemedicine activities are already occurring and are creating new dimensions to the physician-patient relationship.
In addition to such telemedicine activities, other licensed professions, most notably nursing and pharmacy, are engaging in ground-breaking telehealth e-commerce. For example, from the comfort of her home, a new mother can now order diapers and baby formula for home delivery through an Internet “online pharmacy.” “Ask the doctor” style Web sites now provide numerous health-related services and are the darlings of Wall Street. Meanwhile, legislatures, courts, and members of the bar are struggling to address the myriad legal issues posed by this new wave of telemedicine and healthcare e-commerce activity. This article attempts to address some of these issues.
