According to a ruling by the Federal Court of Justice (BGH), advertising for “digital doctor visits” by app to medical professionals abroad is not permitted. There is a lack of generally recognized professional standards, said the presiding judge of the first civil senate in Karlsruhe. This is a term that is clearly described in the German Civil Code, which regulates the obligations arising from a medical treatment contract. A private health insurance company based in Munich had advertised the offer of remote treatment via app to doctors in Switzerland on the Internet. The competition center saw this as a violation of the drug advertising law and sued for an omission. Their argumentation: a doctor must be able to palpate and listen to a patient and collect data on the circulatory system. From the point of view of the insurance company, the doctors have to decide in each individual case whether video treatment is possible. The insurance company was also inferior in the lower courts.
Health – BGH regulates doctor visits online – economy
