Are You My Doctor? Defining the physician-patient relationship in the age of e-health

The possibility of virtual cross-border interactions between doctors and consumers in the e-health sphere clouds the establishment of a doctor-patient relationship. This Commentary discusses the concept of e-health and its impact on the doctor-patient relationship. It then analyzes the legal framework governing the doctor-patient relationship in e-health interactions between a doctor and e-health consumer under a combination of various American and European legal and regulatory regimes. Finally, it combines unifying principles from these regimes to suggest universal legal guidance for predicting when e-health interactions between a doctor and e-health consumer give rise to a doctor-patient relationship.