The Role of ‘Digital Health’ in The Scope of Medical Paternalism: A Legal Standpoint

Abstract

The foundation of medical paternalism is the doctor-patient relationship. The doctor acts as a responsible entity in making decisions for the best interests of the patient. The paternalistic relationship considers the doctor as a superior with the knowledge in medicine. Further, he is authoritative in determining the most appropriate treatment to the patient. The world, at present meets the demands of digitalization and the health sector faces the invent of different types of digital health technologies. The digital transformation has a radical influence on the doctor- patient relationship and the ethics interconnected to it. The objective of the paper focuses on discussing the emergence of digital health technologies namely Telemedicine, Mobile Applications etc. in the world and how medical ethics are affected by the trends of digitalization. The paper further involves the discussion of the developments in doctor-patient relationships. The methodology adopted by the author in the paper is qualitative. The use of primary and secondary sources of law with the content analysis is paramount throughout the research. From the concluding perspective, the author endorses the fact that digital health has its advantages. However, such technologies negatively impact the paternalistic relationship between the doctor and the patient. In addition, medical ethics, namely patient autonomy and beneficence, are subject to drastic changes.