Would you want to speak to your doctor via email?

Would you rather get an email from your doctor or a phone call?

It might not matter what you want , currently doctors are slow to adopt email as a form of communication with patients.

For instance, in 2000-2001, 1 in 5 doctors were using email with their patients, today 6 years later that has only moved to 1 in 4 doctors.

There may be many reasons for this slow adoption

1. lack of reimbursement for their time to write or consult via email. (although docs really dont get anything for speaking with patients by phone).
2. Liability. I think a big hurdle is docs concern over putting what they think or advise in an email that, if incorrect advice, may come back to haunt them over a malpractice allegation. This is, in my opinion, the single biggest hurdle.
3. Difficulty with rendering a true opinion via email. Another reason may be that it is difficult for a doc to render an opinion without seeing or actually "hearing" their patient explain their problems. Email , currently, may be inadequate to provide enough of a picture for the doc to feel comfortable rendering advice or an opinion.

what are your thoughts ? Are you ready for an email consultation