The Court of Appeal questions the importance of telemedicine as a key tool for the future digital hospital



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The Santiago Court of Appeal disputed a consultation made to a patient by telemedicine, an essential tool of the digital hospital project promoted by the Ministry of Health, and ordered that a "Effective medical badistance be provided to a patient" "

In a unanimous decision the fourth chamber examined the case of Angela Loncón, aged 81, diagnosed by two doctors from the Center de family health Bellavista, stage 3 kidney disease And as it was a disease of Auge / Ges, an interconsultation was requested with a nephrologist from the clinical hospital of La Florida.

examined the results of the examinations carried out on the patient. There were two interconsults, in the first case, additional information was requested and in the second case, given the documentation, the diagnosis was rejected. , co ncluant that the photo corresponded to a "renal aging" and not to the pathology included in Auge / Ges.

For the patient, however he spent more than 50 days without a medical consultation provided by law, within 24 hours of confirmation of the diagnosis to avoid an aggravation of the table. And this motivated the call for protection.

After considering the case, the fourth chamber stated that "the omission alleged by Ms. Loncón refers to the lack of health care because she has never received the The specialist and never indicated the pharmacological treatment according to the diagnosis ". The decision also states that "telemedicine has a collaborative nature between specialist professionals and those of primary health care" which "may work in cases where diagnoses coincide and thus allows" treatment due "to be granted. he warns that in this case, there was a discrepancy between two doctors who diagnosed and prescribed a treatment, while the specialist excluded the case.

He adds that in the face of what is wrong has pbaded, the patient was "in absolute uncertainty, so this led him to resort to this office for specialized care" and concludes that "although the health system has validated the The use of telemedicine as an alternative means of providing the opportunity guarantee established by the law of the field, if it is not done in the presence of the patient, or if it is not Is not aware of its use, or less than as a result, the guarantee of the opportunity is illusory. "

Thus, the magistrates have decided that it" is essential that to grant the plaintiff effective medical care on the part of a specialist, in accordance with the law, who decides his condition of actual health and, if appropriate, treatment to follow, informs or all of this to the plaintiff "and they arranged 24 hours for the Florida Hospital of the South East Health Network to deliver the consultation Fonasa is also responsible for monitoring compliance.

Thus, the notice refers to one of the core technologies of the Digital Hospital project which, as part of its objectives, aims to reduce the gap between specialists through these remote attentions to patients, reducing waiting lists.

"This decision is a convincing and timely call for attention, before the digital hospital project. We must consider that telemedicine is a means and not an end. So we can not lose sight of patients and how they perceive the attention and cultural changes badociated with the use of technology, "said President Izquia Siches, of the Faculty of Medicine , added that "it is a good call to update the protocols, to the information of the patients and to the badysis of the ethical, practical limits." and cultural related to the implementation of this technology. "

Health Minister Emilio Santelices, said that telemedicine is" an additional instrument that helps to establish the relationship between a doctor and a patient ", but that "the important thing is what accompanies, the process of using this technology, we can not attribute to the instrument itself the goal of giving in a complete way the solution to a health problem. "

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