Constitutional Protection of Patients in Telemedicine: Informed Consent as a Right to Health

Toto Surianto Subu (Faculty of Law, Universitas Hasanuddin)
Ahmadi Miru (Faculty of Law, Universitas Hasanuddin)
Slamet Sampurno Suwondo (Faculty of Law, Universitas Hasanuddin)
Muhammad Saleh Tajuddin (Faculty of Ushuluddin and Philosophy, Universitas Islam Negeri (UIN) Alauddin Makassar)
Ahmed Mohamed Barak (College of Law, American University in the Emirates)

Jurnal Pengabdian Hukum Indonesia
Vol. 9 No. 2 (2026): July-December, 2026 (Article in Press)

This article examines constitutional protection of patients in telemedicine, focusing on platform-based chat teleconsultation between doctors and patients. While telemedicine can expand access to healthcare, chat-based consultation limits clinical verification beyond text-based history taking, increasing the risks of misinterpretation, misdiagnosis, and delayed referral. These risks require meaningful informed consent rather than merely formal acceptance of platform terms. This study employs an implementation-oriented legal education approach within a community engagement framework to translate patient protection and informed consent principles into practical guidance for telemedicine users, health workers, and digital health providers. The methodology comprises four stages: identifying practical challenges in chat teleconsultation, developing accessible legal education materials, constructing a practical e-informed consent model, and assessing its applicability to promote safer and more accountable teleconsultation practices. The findings indicate that Indonesian positive law recognizes telemedicine and requires consent following adequate explanation but has not established specific and auditable e-informed consent standards for direct-to-consumer chat teleconsultation. This gap may lead to the conflation of general platform or data consent with specific clinical informed consent at points of clinical decision-making, including therapy recommendations, prescriptions, clinical instructions, and referrals. The study proposes a rights-based and risk-based e-informed consent model built on four pillars: structured minimum disclosure emphasizing chat limitations; verification of patient understanding through teach-back or closed-loop communication; trigger-based, just-in-time separation of platform consent from specific clinical consent; and an audit trail compatible with electronic medical records. The model strengthens patients’ rights to health and information while enhancing accountability in digital health services and supporting Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 on Good Health and Well-being.