The right to medical assistance for seafarers. Ethical and practical consequences of the introduction of telemedicine to improve healthcare onboard ships

Quality and easy access to healthcare is considered a Fundamental Right in most countries. While access to carehas progressed, the ethical challenges related with medical error, confidentiality of patient information and riskof technology over-riding human judgement have become important to address. In the case of seafarers, thechallenges are compounded by the fact that they spend a significant amount of time on the high seas with nodirect access to medical care. With the introduction of Tele-medicine, quality and access to care has improved.However due to the fact that there is no direct patient–doctor contact, ethical issues related to consent and careare important to review to safegaurds the interest both the doctor and patient. The gradual introduction ofadvanced technologies present improved medical assistance to seafarers onboard