Working on a Right to Health for the Digital Era

Abstract

Contemporary healthcare systems are going through the digital turn, i.e., the progressive incorporation of information and communication technologies to improve the quality and increase the efficiency of healthcare. Despite the flourishing of research in this field, just a small number of studies have shed light on the most relevant legal issues posed by the implementation of digital services in healthcare. This literature shows a predilection for some issues among which data protection, confidentiality, licensure, and liability. What is missing is a more comprehensive reflection that may help to assess the overall impact of digitalisation on the right to health, ranging from the emergence of new rights to the reconfiguration of existing ones. This chapter is an attempt to contribute to the aforementioned reflection, which is deemed fundamental in order to protect disadvantaged groups, and to ensure effectiveness of both emerging and existing entitlements conventionally considered as part of an individual’s right to health.