Structural and legal implications of e-health.
Web and attendant e-Commerce phenomena are irretrievably at odds with the traditional structure and hence legal regulation of health delivery. E-Health delivers healthcare information, diagnosis, treatment, care, and prescribing of drugs in a nonlinear, nonhierarchical manner that encourages patients to "enter" the system at an infinite number of points, thus defying current regulatory constructs. Similarly, e-Commerce fundamentals such as disintermediation and disaggregation result in medical information being delivered through unfamiliar channels, creating immensely difficult questions for health lawyers.
Terry
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Center for Health Law Studies, Saint Louis University, USA. terry@slu.edu
D003132:Commerce / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D003219:Confidentiality; D005544:Forecasting; D019981:Health Care Sector / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000592:standards; D006266:Health Education / Q000592:standards; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D007255:Information Services / Q000592:standards*; D020407:Internet / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000592:standards; D016365:Liability, Legal; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D014481:United States