Ethics of Healthcare Technologies

Introduction

Ethics and Healthcare Technologies introduces students to the range of ethical issues that tend to arise during the development, design and application of devices used in healthcare or for medical purposes. The class will gain insight into the different aspects of healthcare ethics, such as the distinction between medical research and practice, the ethics of using human or animal research participants, and the ethics of technology, as well as value-sensitive design and responsible innovation approaches within the context of healthcare technologies. The course will provide students with skills in critical reflection, sensitivity to ethical concerns, and the ability to take up considerations of value to society as well as governance in the development and applications of technology. Assignments and cases examined in class will address contemporary developments in these technologies, the reasons behind new regulations that pertain, as well as giving a historical perspective on the ethical principles that underlie current approaches. Thus, the course should prepare students for common problems they will face in their current studies and prepare them for addressing issues that will arise in their future careers.

Topics include:

Introduction to ethics in medicine and healthcare:

• The research-practice and normative-descriptive distinctions

• Bioethics, and the ethics of clinical research (historical and present)

• Medical devices and some relevant regulations and codes

• Applying ethical frameworks e.g., utilitarianism, principalism, care ethics

• Scientific integrity and the social value of research

Introduction to ethics of technology:

• Technology as a socio-technical system

• Innovation in healthcare

• Value-sensitive design, responsible innovation

• Specific issues in developing healthcare technologies, such as: wearable and other health tracking devices; transhumanism and augmentation; human and animal research ethics; genetic modification; 3D tissue/organ printing; datamining, imagery and related privacy issues; the role of AI, machine learning and robotics.