Moral Guidelines for Emerging Healthcare and Social Technologies – Balancing Innovation and Ethics
Ethics of care provide a unique outlook on moral philosophy by underscoring relationships as well as the subtle, context-specific duties people have towards certain individuals. Notably, ethics of care is a contradiction to the more traditional ethical philosophies, including utilitarianism and deontology. Some of the core principles of ethics of care include relational focus whereby it is through the lens of relationships that morality is understood. Second is contextual sensitivity, whereby ethical choices are context-sensitive, meaning that the specific needs and circumstances of people must be taken into consideration (Rachels & Rachels, 2012). The third principle is emotional engagement, whereby in order for one to be able to care for and attend to other people’s needs, one must be emotionally responsive. The last principle is dependency and vulnerability, which recognizes that humans depend on others and the significance of taking care of those who are dependent or vulnerable.
When put into application in the field of healthcare and social technologies, care ethics emphasizes the welfare of persons and the public, their life context, and the implementation of care practices that are both responsive and accountable. Some of the moral guidelines that should be integrated for care-based ethics in newly introduced healthcare technologies include patient-centered care in telemedicine and AI in diagnostics. Since telemedicine is an introduction to virtual consultations, this technology should ensure that these consultations still remain empathetic and considerate to the patients, the same way an in-person consultation would. AI diagnostics, on the other hand, should ensure that the patients are well informed on everything about the procedures so that any choice patients make qualifies as informed consent. The second moral guideline is that healthcare should be accessible and inclusive of everyone regardless of their location, age, literacy, disability, or social class. In addition, with such services being virtual or computer-only operated, human oversight must be maintained for the purpose of relational care.
In regards to social technologies, specifically social media platforms, some of the moral guidelines that should be applied include having an ethical design and use of said platforms. This is especially crucial in transparency about the usage of data and algorithmic processes, which, according to Lal, Dang, Nabzdyk, Gajic & Herasevich (2022), has become a real concern today. Lastly, in order to promote respectful discourse and give tools for users to apply in managing their interaction online, social technologies should institute community guidelines. In addition, they should also implement device features that enable users to go offline without losing their content or connections, which would help prevent social media addiction.
References
Lal, A., Dang, J., Nabzdyk, C., Gajic, O., & Herasevich, V. (2022). Regulatory oversight and ethical concerns surrounding software as a medical device (SaMD) and digital twin technology in healthcare. Annals of Translational Medicine, 10(18).
Rachels, J., & Rachels, S. (2012). The elements of moral philosophy 7e. McGraw Hill.
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Question 
What moral guidelines should we use when it comes to recently introduced healthcare
Moral Guidelines for Emerging Healthcare and Social Technologies – Balancing Innovation and Ethics
technologies of any kind (you will note and engage with your examples) and social technologies of any kind (you will note and engage with your examples)?