Legistration

“‘First do no harm, second hasten to help’ and this principal should be the mail rule also for newly developed techniques.”(Graur et al., 2010, p.463, para.2) Law requires that a licence is needed to ensure that all hospital facilities meet minimum quality standard. The physician performing the telesurgery consultations require a licence as well. The physician is the one that will be responsible for making sure that non physician participating in telesurgery are properly trained. The law also requires that physician offering tele-consultation has to be licensed or recognized in both places, this includes the location of the patient and the location of the physician.  If a licensed physician helps a non-licensed physician in practicing medicine both may face civil fines, suspensions, or their licences can be cancelled or taken away (Bhatia, 2008, p.170, para.3).

Another rule that has to be kept in mind is that the physician and patient relationship, in other words the face-to-face encounter between them should not be replaced by telemedicine. (Graur et al., 2010, p.464, para.2) Physician-to-physician tele consultation is acceptable, especially when one physician is talking with an expert or physician in another country that is far and in this case it’s for the benefit of the patient so it is acceptable (Graur et al., 2010, p.463, para.2).

The rules for patient consent and confidentiality also apply to telesurgery, and the law requires that no information and data should be given out.  Same rules apply to data tracking of the patient as the regular consultation.  The doctor to patient, doctor to doctor, and doctor to institution require a code of ethics which must be followed. The best quality care and safety must be provided when it come to telemedicine. This mean the physician had to provide the care and safety just like they would in a regular consultation. (Graur et al., 2010, p.464, para.2)

Finally, most doctors today have to depend on technology to provide the patients with best care, therefore rules and regulations have to be set for using these devices.

Finally, most doctors today have to depend on technology to provide the patients with best care, therefore rules and regulations have to set for using these devices.

The amount of money required to build these robots, the maintenance cost, the cost of infrastructure, academic and research cost and the amount of money needed to train healthcare staff is a lot, but in the long run the cost to get a telesurgery compared to the regular surgery will not be that high.

The rules and regulation set out by the government/ legalities must be followed in order for the safety of the patient. The licensed physician should be the one that has to be responsible for making sure that non licensed physician participating in telesurgery are properly trained.  If the staff responsible for helping out during the telesurgery are not well prepared and are not familiar with the equipment, the patient will not get the proper treatment and the equipment could be damaged which could cost a lot of money.

If a regular surgeon is now allowed to get any of the patient’s confidential information out, the same rules should be followed by the telesurgeons. Also patients must be provided the same doctor-patient relations, because those robotic machines are not going to answer what a patient feels and their question.

In the end, the patient must be provided the best quality care and safety, and in order to do so the rules and regulations must be followed.