Ethics of the health-related internet of things: a narrative review

Brent Mittelstadt

doi:10.1007/s10676-017-9426-4

Abstract

The internet of things is increasingly spreading into the domain of medical and social care. Internet-enabled devices for monitoring and managing the health and well-being of users outside of traditional medical institutions have rapidly become common tools to support healthcare. Health-related internet of things (H-IoT) technologies increasingly play a key role in health management, for purposes including disease prevention, real-time tele-monitoring of patient’s functions, testing of treatments, fitness and well-being monitoring, medication dispensation, and health research data collection. H-IoT promises many benefits for health and healthcare. However, it also raises a host of ethical problems stemming from the inherent risks of Internet enabled devices, the sensitivity of health-related data, and their impact on the delivery of healthcare. This paper maps the main ethical problems that have been identified by the relevant literature and identifies key themes in the on-going debate on ethical problems concerning H-IoT.

Highlights

The internet of things is increasingly spreading into the domain of medical and social care
Health-related internet of things (H-IoT) technologies increasingly play a key role in health management, for purposes including disease prevention, real-time tele-monitoring of patients functions, testing of treatments, fitness and well-being monitoring, medication dispensation, and health research data collection (Empirica 2010; Schmidt and Verweij 2013)
This paper provides a narrative overview of academic discourse, identifying three key themes in discussion of ethical issues concerning H-IoT, which we call the ethics of devices, data, and practices

Summary

Introduction

The internet of things is increasingly spreading into the domain of medical and social care. Health-related internet of things (H-IoT) technologies increasingly play a key role in health management, for purposes including disease prevention, real-time tele-monitoring of patients functions, testing of treatments, fitness and well-being monitoring, medication dispensation, and health research data collection (Empirica 2010; Schmidt and Verweij 2013). The health and behaviours of users can be digitised, recorded, stored, and analysed, creating novel opportunities for clinical care and research, including alerts and medication dispensing by devices (Lupton 2014a). TOPIC: (ethic* OR moral*) AND TOPIC: (“internet of things” OR “IoT” OR “ubiquitous computing” OR “ambient intelligence” OR “smart homes” OR wearable* OR “big data” OR “health monitoring”) AND TOPIC: (health* OR medic* OR bio*). Philpapers (complex search ethic* AND (“internet of things” OR “IoT” OR “big data” OR “health monitoring”) queries not supported)

Methodology

Conclusion