Factors Influencing the Development of a Legal Culture Regarding Civil Liability in Telemedicine

Telemedicine, as one of the emerging technologies in the healthcare domain, has revolutionized the provision of medical services. This technology utilizes advanced communication tools to enable consultation and treatment of patients without requiring physical presence in a clinic or hospital. The advent of new medical service delivery modes such as telemedicine has introduced changes that traditional legal frameworks are unable to adequately address. Although numerous laws, regulations, and legal texts are available in foreign countries, in Iran—considering the utilization of telemedicine in specialized virtual clinics in cooperation with medical universities—it appears necessary to fill the legislative and regulatory gaps and to analyze and clarify the legal aspects of these services. This is particularly crucial because providing services through telemedicine leads to extensive and sometimes complex relationships between patients and service providers. The present study examines the factors that influence the development of a legal culture concerning civil liability arising from telemedicine. The research method is descriptive-survey in terms of data collection. The findings indicate that the factors contributing to the establishment of a legal culture in the field of civil liability related to telemedicine include: the current use of telemedicine by physicians, physicians’ future intention to use telemedicine, physicians’ awareness of telemedicine utilization levels in leading countries, physicians’ opinions on the impact of telemedicine on diagnostic and treatment capabilities, physicians’ readiness to adopt telemedicine, physicians’ familiarity with the legal challenges of telemedicine, awareness of the responsibilities of other involved parties (such as software developers and service providers, hospitals, etc.) in telemedicine, physicians’ knowledge of existing laws related to telemedicine, and the medical community’s desire for the enactment of specific legislation concerning telemedicine.