Abstract

Although present in medical practise, telemedicine has not been yet specifically regulated. As a result, the medical community remains uncertain whether using information and communication technology in the process of providing services to patients is in compliance with legal and ethical standards or not. Until 2014, legislation allowed for creative interpretation of the provisions of the Medical Profession Act so as to include telemedicine in business operations. However, changes introduced as of 1 January 2015 by the oncological package prevent continuation of this line of interpretation of the law. As a result of that amendment telemedicine lost its already poor normative legitimization, which is extensively substantiated by the author in the article. The current legal situation is grossly unsatisfactory, gives rise to uncertainty and prevents dissemination of new technological soklutions. There is a need to accelerate legislative work on the amendment to the Act on the information system in health care and certain other acts, which would regulate the legal status of telemedicine in Poland.