[Does the digital signature of the DICOM standard meet the requirements of German law?]

(Entspricht die digitale Signatur des DICOM-Standards dem deutschen Signaturgesetz?)

Full Abstract

The DICOM standard offers the possibilities to generate electronic signatures, valid according to German laws. This enhances the reliability of the correlation between image and patient data. However, only so called qualified electronic signatures--conveniently issued by an accredited supplier--are permissible and not rejectable as evidence in German jurisdiction and are completely equivalent to the handwritten signatures. These qualified electronic signatures can be executed only by individuals, whereas the former are not applicable to technical apparatus like image generating modalities. In consequence, a modality is able to provide its pictures with a "common or advanced signature" solely. This limits the use of the digital signature of the DICOM standard for further applications, e.g. the verifiability within the teleradiology.

Author information

Author/s: Schütze, B (B); Kroll, M (M); Geisbe, T (T); Braun, M (M); Filler, T J (TJ);

Affiliation: Fachbereich Informatik, Fachhochschule Dortmund. schuetze(-atsign-)medizin-informatik.org

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Comparative Study; English Abstract; Journal Article

Journal: Der Radiologe (Radiologe), published in Germany. (Language: ger)

Reference: 2003-Aug; vol 43 (issue 8) : pp 665-70

Dates: Created 2003/09/23; Completed 2003/12/12; Revised 2006/11/15;

PMID: 14504768, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 2/18/2009, IMS Date: )

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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