SATMED: Legal Aspects of the Physical Layer of Satellite-Telemedicine

Significant disparities exist between the availability of physicians and health care specialists in urban and rural areas, particularly in developing countries. Emerging telemedicine technologies would enable doctors located in urban areas and elsewhere around the globe to serve rural patients. However, the limited availability of telecommunications infrastructure and technology necessary for telemedicine in rural areas inhibits the deployment of such health care applications. Satellites' ability to bridge gaps in telecommunications infrastructure gives them a unique capacity to also bridge the urban-rural health care divide by making telemedicine applications available to rural patients and medical professionals worldwide. However, international law provides an expansive grant of national sovereignty over electromagnetic spectrum that supersedes state obligations to provide access to health care. As a result, the physical equipment necessary to provide telemedicine services to rural patients is subject to national regulatory regimes that prevent the widespread and cost-effective availability of life-saving technology.This paper identifies the body of international law governing satellite telemedicine including conventions governing economic, social and cultural rights and the right to health care; and international telecommunications law including the ITU Constitution, Tampere Convention, and the Global Mobile Personal Communication by Satellite Memorandum of Understanding. It then concludes that an additional international undertaking to eliminate national barriers to entry for satellite telemedicine technology is necessary.