The legal and risk management conundrum of telemedicine

A store-and-forward teledermatology service was established between two gen eral practices and the department of plastic surgery at Derriford Hospital in Plymouth. An academic lawyer and an expert in risk management made an as sessment of the service. They looked at the following issues: medicolegal p roblems; security; confidentiality; and risk. None of them was considered i nsoluble and there is no reason why such issues should prevent the National Health Service from developing telemedicine services. All organizations co nsidering telemedicine need to ensure that the proposed telemedicine servic e satisfies the issues raised in this study.