The Impact of Digitalization on Conceptual Approaches to the Study of Medical Crimes
Keywords:
healthcare; professional misconduct; medical error; telemedicine; digital evidenceAbstract
Objectives: The paper analyses how the digital transformation of healthcare changes conceptual approaches to professional medical crimes. Prior Work: It builds on medical-law, criminological and patient-safety literature concerning medical error, malpractice, telemedicine, electronic health records and artificial intelligence. Approach: The study uses an interdisciplinary review based on comparative legal, criminological and systems analysis of scientific publications, reports and regulatory documents from Moldova, Ukraine, the European Union, the United Kingdom and the United States. Results: Digitalization creates new risk environments and new forms of misconduct, including manipulation of electronic data, telemedicine-related diagnostic failures and algorithm-assisted errors, while also strengthening traceability through audit trails, metadata and analytical monitoring. Implications: Legal, medical and information technology specialists should adapt investigative methods, professional standards and training. Value: The article offers an integrated conceptual framework for distinguishing criminal misconduct, civil malpractice and deontological violations in digital medicine.
References
AACN. (2022, March 28). AACN's statement on the conviction of RaDonda Vaught. American Association of Critical-Care Nurses. https://www.aacn.org/newsroom/aacns-statement-on-the-conviction-of-radonda-vaught
American Nurses Association. (2022, March 25). Statement in response to the conviction of nurse RaDonda Vaught. American Nurses Association. https://www.nursingworld.org/news/news-releases/2022-news-releases/statement-in-response-to-the-conviction-of-nurse-radonda-vaught/
Amirov, R. G. (2021). Metodika rassledovaniya prichineniya tyazhkogo vreda zdorovʹyu vsledstvie nenadlezhashchego okazaniya meditsinskoy pomoshchi [Methodology for investigating the infliction of serious harm to health as a result of improper medical care] (Doctoral dissertation). Rostov-on-Don, Russia.
Baranova, M. V. (2016). Operezhayushchee pravotvorchestvo v pravovoy sisteme sovremennosti [Anticipatory law-making in the modern legal system]. Vestnik Saratovskoy Gosudarstvennoy Yuridicheskoy Akademii [Bulletin of the Saratov State Law Academy], 1(108), 43-45.
Bloomberg Law. (2020, April 14). Uptick in telehealth reveals medical malpractice concerns. https://news.bloomberglaw.com/health-law-and-business/uptick-in-telehealth-reveals-medical-malpractice-concerns
Chervonnykh, E. V. (2009). Prestupleniya, sovershaemye v sfere zdravookhraneniya, i ikh preduprezhdenie [Crimes committed in the field of healthcare and their prevention] (Doctoral dissertation). Saratov, Russia.
Council of Europe. (1997, April 4). Convention for the protection of human rights and dignity of the human being with regard to the application of biology and medicine (Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine) (ETS No. 164). Oviedo, Spain.
CRB-Vedeno. (2024, September 20). IT-prestupleniya v zdravookhranenii [IT crimes in healthcare]. https://crb-vedeno.ru/it-prestupleniya-v-zdravoohranenii/
European Union. (2016, April 27). Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation). Official Journal of the European Union, L119, 1-88. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/reg/2016/679/oj
Finnegan, J. (2019, July 25). Diagnostic errors are top reason for liability claims against primary care doctors, report says. Fierce Healthcare. https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/practices/diagnostic-errors-are-top-reason-for-liability-claims-against-primary-care-doctors-report
Fogel, A. L., & Kvedar, J. C. (2019). Reported cases of medical malpractice in direct-to-consumer telemedicine. JAMA, 321(13), 1309-1310. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2019.0395
Fogel, A. L., Lacktman, N. M., & Kvedar, J. C. (2021). Skin cancer telemedicine medical malpractice risk. JAMA Dermatology, 157(7), 870-871. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamadermatol.2021.1475
Graber, M. L., Byrne, C., & Johnston, D. (2017). The impact of electronic health records on diagnosis. Diagnosis, 4(4), 211-223. https://doi.org/10.1515/dx-2017-0012
Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on Quality of Health Care in America. (2000). To err is human: Building a safer health systemㅤ(L. T. Kohn et al., Eds.). National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/9728
Ivanova, Ya. I. (2017). Metodika rassledovaniya yatrogennykh prestupleniy, sovershaemykh v sfere rodovspomozheniya [Methodology for investigating iatrogenic crimes committed in the field of obstetrics] (Doctoral dissertation). Moscow, Russia.
Katz, H. P., Kaltsounis, D., Halloran, L., & Mondor, M. (2008). Patient safety and telephone medicine: Some lessons from closed claim case review. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 23(5), 517-522. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-007-0491-y
egea nr. 241 din 15-11-2007 privind comunicatiile electronice [Law No. 241 on electronic communications]. Monitorul Oficial al Republicii Moldova, 399-410, art. 679.
Leventhal, R. (2019, June 18). EHRs more frequently factor into medical malpractice claims, study finds. Healthcare Innovation. https://www.hcinnovationgroup.com/clinical-it/news/21095449/ehrs-more-frequently-factor-into-medical-malpractice-claims-study-finds
Lusk, C., DeForest, E., Segarra, G., Neyens, D. M., Abernathy, J. H. III, & Catchpole, K. (2022). Reconsidering the application of systems thinking in healthcare: The RaDonda Vaught case. British Journal of Anaesthesia, 129(3), e61-e62. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bja.2022.05.023
Martin, D. (2023, October 9). Government agencies using AI to detect healthcare fraud. Managed Healthcare Executive. https://www.managedhealthcareexecutive.com/view/government-agencies-using-ai-to-detect-healthcare-fraud
Payasan, L. G., et al. (2022). Doctors say "Not only me": Medical malpractice as a professional crime in the internet medical era. International Journal of Science and Healthcare Research, 7(4), 326-333. https://doi.org/10.52403/ijshr.20221046
Pisarenco, C. S., & Pisarenco, S. V. (2022). Medico-legal aspects of digitalization of national healthcare on the example of phthisiopneumology. Sanatate Publica, Economie si Management in Medicina, 2(93-S), 273-277. ISSN 1729-8687.
Patru, L., Barbu, C. A., & Patru, C. L. (2023). Digitalization of medical services: A new ally for malpractice risk management. "Ovidius" University Annals, Economic Sciences Series, 23(1), 750-756. https://stec.univ-ovidius.ro/html/anale/RO/2023-i1/Section%204/27.pdf
Rich, B. A. (2005). Medical custom and medical ethics: Rethinking the standard of care. Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics, 14(1), 27-39. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0963180105050048
Rosenbaum, Famularo & Segall, P.C. (n.d.). The role of electronic health records in medical malpractice lawsuits. Rosenbaum, Famularo & Segall LLP Blog.
Rowland, S. P., Fitzgerald, J. E., & Lungren, M. P. (2022). Digital health technology-specific risks for medical malpractice liability. NPJ Digital Medicine, 5(1), 157. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41746-022-00698-3
Sharma, A. (2025, May 9). AI-driven health insurance: From complexity to clarity. Forbes Technology Council. https://www.forbes.com/councils/forbestechcouncil/2025/05/09/ai-driven-health-insurance-from-complexity-to-clarity/
Shepelev, S. V. (2022). Vzaimodeystvie sledovatelya so svedushchimi litsami v khode rassledovaniya prestupleniy, svyazannykh s nenadlezhashchim okazaniem meditsinskoy pomoshchi [Interaction of the investigator with experts in investigating crimes related to improper medical care] (Doctoral dissertation). Moscow, Russia.
1st Healthcare Compliance. (2022, October 31). Automatic dispensing cabinets & the case of RaDonda Vaught: Q&A. 1st Healthcare Compliance Blog. https://1sthcc.com/automatic-dispensing-cabinets-the-case-of-radonda-vaught-qa/
Stovel, R. G., Gabarin, N., Cavalcanti, R. B., & Abrams, H. (2020). Curricular needs for training telemedicine physicians: A scoping review. Medical Teacher, 42(11), 1234-1242. https://doi.org/10.1080/0142159X.2020.1799959
Telemedicina - un nou concept digital va fi lansat in testare. (2025, July 9). CIO.GOV.MD. https://cio.gov.md/ro/node/39517
The Nuremberg Code. (1996). JAMA, 276(20), 1691. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.1996.03540200075038
Tobia, K., Nielsen, A., & Stremitzer, A. (2021). When does physician use of AI increase liability? Journal of Nuclear Medicine, 62(1), 17-21. https://doi.org/10.2967/jnumed.120.256032
Venditti, S. A., Sazegar, P., Fuchs, L. C., & Snarskis, C. E. (2022). Family medicine resident and faculty perceptions about the strengths and limitations of telemedicine training. PRiMER, 6, 9. https://doi.org/10.22454/PRiMER.2022.665996
Vida-Simiti, I. (2025). The regulation of telemedicine in Romania: Issues of legal limitations in digital medical development. In A. L. Negrusa, M. M. Coros, & M. A. Camilleri (Eds.), Sustainable and resilient businesses in the global economy (pp. 309-321). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-75883-6_1
Williams, R., Jenkins, D. A., Ashcroft, D. M., Brown, B., Campbell, S., Carr, M. J., Cheraghi-Sohi, S., Kapur, N., Thomas, O., Webb, R. T., & Peek, N. (2020). Diagnosis of physical and mental health conditions in primary care during the COVID-19 pandemic: A retrospective cohort study. The Lancet Public Health, 5(10), e543-e550. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2468-2667(20)30201-2
World Medical Association. (2013, October). World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki: Ethical principles for medical research involving human subjects. JAMA, 310(20), 2191-2194. https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2013.281053
Wu, E., Wu, K., Daneshjou, R., Ouyang, D., Ho, D. E., & Zou, J. (2021). How medical AI devices are evaluated: Limitations and recommendations from an analysis of FDA approvals. Nature Medicine, 27(4), 582-584. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41591-021-01312-x
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Constantin Pisarenco
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
The author fully assumes the content originality and the holograph signature makes him responsible in case of trial.
