"It cannot be fast-food medicine," said Yves Robert, secretary of the professional order representing about 20,000 physicians. "Oneminute consultations over the Internet would simply become a way to make more cash. A patient has to know that it's not always easy to practise medicine."
Robert was responding to a new report by the Montreal Economic Institute, a non-profit think tank, that said online doctor's visits can be "particularly effective at diagnosing minor problems and avoiding unnecessary trips to the emergency room." The report noted that a service offered only in the United States by Teladoc Medical Services, with doctors providing diagnoses and prescriptions by phone and webcam, is very popular. Quebec's growing health care costs could be reduced with online doctor's visits, the report said.
Robert said his group does approve of high-tech outpatient monitoring and teleconferencing so doctors can follow up with patients, as is done in some current pilot projects in the province. "But nothing replaces the human presence, and the emotional bond a doctor should have with a patient, especially in the first visit."
Some radiology reports are already being prepared abroad for patients in Quebec, Robert warned. In these cases, the patient must understand that there is limited legal recourse if there is a misdiagnosis.
Paul Brunet, head of the Conseil pour la protection des malades, a patients' rights group, said Quebec doctors can probably work out telemedicine's glitches. While he agreed it's best that a doctor be physically present with a patient, he said: "There's a shortage of doctors and nurses, and we need all the help we can get."
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Max Harrold
Quelle/Source: The Montreal Gazette, 18.09.2010
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