A few weeks ago we wrote about Christian Hageseth, the first doctor to stand trial in connection with the practice of telemedicine. The details of the case suggest that Mr. Hageseth committed a number of legal and judgemental errors while providing care to a patient in another state. Firstly, he provided a prescription to this patient despite not being licensed to practice in that state. He also issued the prescription based only upon reviewing a questionnaire the patient had filled out without any direct contact. And finally, and probably most shockingly, Mr. Hageseth was apparently not legally allowed to issue any prescriptions at all, since according to the SFGate, he was “practicing under a restricted license…that did not allow him to write prescriptions.”
Mr. Hageseth entered a guilty plea and was sentenced to 9 months in jail as well as a financial penalty. Personally I believe that the charge of issuing the prescription illegally outweighs the issue around practising telemedicine across state borders. Therefore even though I wouldn’t say this is a legal case that deals with the real fundamental issues surrounding telemedicine, it is nonetheless an important reminder of just how legally sensitive work in the field of telemedicine can be.
