Abstract
With robots being introduced into caregiving, particularly for older persons, various ethical concerns are raised. Among them is the fear of replacing human caregiving. While ethical concepts like well-being, autonomy, and capabilities are often used to discuss these concerns, this paper brings forth the concept of social dignity to further develop guidelines concerning the use of robots in caregiving. By social dignity, we mean that a person’s perceived dignity changes in response to certain interactions and experiences with other persons. In this paper, we will first present the concept of social dignity, and then identify a niche where robots can be used in caregiving in an ethical manner. Specifically, we will argue that, because some activities of daily living are performed in solitude to maintain dignity, a care recipient will usually prefer robotic assistance instead of human assistance for these activities. Secondly, we will describe how other philosophical concepts, which have been commonly used to judge robotic assistance in caregiving for the elderly so far, such as well-being, autonomy, and capabilities, are less useful in determining whether robotic assistance in caregiving is ethically problematic or not. To conclude, we will argue that social dignity offers an advantage to the other concepts, as it allows to ask the most pressing questions in caregiving.
Highlights
In an attempt to improve caregiving, both for the patient and the caregiver, robots are being introduced into the healthcare system (Vandemeulebroucke et al 2018)
We proposed the concept of social dignity as an ethical lens for considering these issues, and identified a niche where robotic assistance is ethically preferable to human assistance
This niche is located in non-social Activities of daily living (ADL), where privacy is desired and socially expected, such as during activities related to personal hygiene
Summary
In an attempt to improve caregiving, both for the patient and the caregiver, robots are being introduced into the healthcare system (Vandemeulebroucke et al 2018). Drawing from the concept of social dignity, we suggest a specific way in which robotic assistance can mitigate the fear of replacing human caregiving, and be ethically less problematic. The niche of non-social ADLs to preserve their dignity-of-self, is ideal to implement robotic assistance This solves at least part of the question whether robotic assistance in caregiving of older persons is ethical, as it identifies a place where it is. Using autonomy to limit the use of robotic assistance is not sufficient because autonomy (unlike the other concepts discussed in this paper) can be non-existent (or more precisely denied) in certain care recipients, especially in those who need more intense caregiving. The ethical utility of the concept of social dignity in considering issues of robotic care, can serve to highlight the serious limitations of the construct of moral autonomy as unjustly denying recognition to persons with dementia
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