Digital health law you will know

We all know by now how digital health products and services have entered sick care. So, lawyers can't be far behind. Many will have MD as well as JD after names.

Cornell Law School, one of the top-ranked law schools in the nation, plans to offer a new juris doctorate program at the soon-to-be opened Cornell Tech campus on Roosevelt Island in New York City.

Students at Cornell Law — which is in Ithaca, northwest of New York City — will be able to study legal issues including technology information, especially privacy and cybersecurity, at Cornell’s new technology campus starting in the spring semester of 2018.

However, many might now know the product liability issues that come with the territory and and are still being decided.

1. Intended use i.e. is the product a medical device or something else?
2. Defining some standard of cybersecurity responsibility
3. How enforcement actions should be decided and by which jurisdiction or agency
4. Standards applied to experts testifying in digital health product liability cases
5. Medical malpractice standards as they apply to using digital health products
6. Defining and assessing patient contributory negligence in a suit
7. Digital health law as an emerging discipline and opportunity
8. Referral liability using digital health apps
9. Relaxation of FDA enforcement actions
10. Increasing non-FDA actions from the FTC and other state and local attorneys general and consumer protection agencies.

While you are checking your fitbit, add digital health laws to your reading list. It will be required reading for digital health entrepreneurs.

Arlen Meyers, MD, MBA is the President and CEO of the Society of Physician Entrepreneurs