An improvement approach of legal regulation on the metaverse in medicine: taking medical application of digital twins as an example

The metaverse in medicine is a cutting-edge conception in the field of medicine centered on technologies such as virtual reality, the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, and digital twins, which seeks to resolve the dilemmas of the current situation of healthcare in China. However, the lack of legal regulation has objectively limited further development of metaverse in medicine. Starting from digital twins, a representative technology with great potential in this field, we discuss the institutional response and value reconstruction of related laws. The medical application of digital twins involves human rights, medical affairs and algorithms. How to improve informed consent mechanism, how to limit subject scope qualification, and how to clarify damage responsibility attribution together contribute the key issues in resolving the controversies. From the dispute resolution of digital twin medicine application, we can conclude an improvement approach of the overall legal regulation of metaverse in medicine. On the domestic organization mode, a stable legal interest protection core should be found to establish a new legal order of the algorithmic society. On the international organization mode, the public international law can play a coordinating and restraining function to establish a globalized medical metaverse. 

Key Words: metaverse in medicine; digital twin; legal regulation