EHealth: Frameworks for assessing ethical impacts

Abstract

Over the past decade, through ongoing and cascading innovation in technology and service models, and encouraged by the significant policy and financial supports of governments, eHealth is taking a central role in the evolution of healthcare. eHealth is sometimes viewed as an answer to many of the gaps or failings in healthcare; however, care must be taken in the deployment of these technologies, to ensure that they respond effectively to a broad range of ethical issues, such as privacy (patient information confidentiality and patient health record security), accessibility (including both design and economic accessibility), and free and fully informed consent. This chapter first posits that eHealth is part of a broader evolution in healthcare, and necessarily impacts the place of ethics in the health context. We then examine different frameworks that could be used in assessing ethical issues, along with the strengths and weaknesses of the frameworks as they aim to identify key issues such as privacy, data protection and safety. Finally, a scenario-based ethical impact assessment is suggested and illustrated as a means to ensure that the design and deployment of eHealth solutions effectively respond to the broader range of ethical concerns. We recommend further study to create a comprehensive framework for ethical impact assessment in the context of eHealth.