Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
FIGURE 2.4
MRI scans are just one of the PPI elements available on electronic databases.
Courtesy of http://images
.medicinenet.com/images/SlideShow/dementia_s21_mri_doctor.jpg.
in every hospital room. MRI scans (Figure 2.4) are no longer printed in film but are uploaded to
the patient's file, where physicians with proper approval can access the images. Entire medical
histories are stored on patient databases.
1.
Discuss the benefits of the electronic system and the potential risks.
2.
Discuss in detail where and how the issue of consent to access should be handled. While access
to the patient information database is limited to accredited physicians and employees, the issue
of illegal access from the inside is a prominent one. Hospital employees with access, be they
physicians or researchers, may be capable of accessing family accounts or those of friends.
With a paper system, protected patient information (PPI) had the potential to be leaked as well
via lost files and irresponsible handling. With the electronic system, however, more intentional
breach of privacy may be possible to those with access to the system.
3.
How can a hospital employee with a medical record on the system be guaranteed privacy from
colleagues?
4.
Should patients be allowed to decide personally whether their information is stored electronically?
Would an integrated system function efficiently?
Nevertheless, can the aims of research ever be reconciled with the traditional moral obliga-
tions of physicians? Is the researcher/physician in an untenable position? Informed and volun-
tary consent once again is the key only if subjects of an experiment agree to participate in the
research. What happens to them during and because of the experiment is then a product of
their own decision. It is not something that is imposed on them but rather, in a very real sense,
something they elected to have done to themselves. Because their autonomy is thus respected,
they are not made a mere resource for the benefit of others. Although they may suffer harm for
the benefit of others, they do so of their own volition as a result of the exercise of their own
autonomy, rather than as a result of having their autonomy limited or diminished.
For consent to be genuine, it must be truly voluntary and not the product of coercion.
Not all sources of coercion are as obvious and easy to recognize as physical violence.
