Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
and services. The argument is that patients should be able to make informed
choices with regard to technology adoption and its consequences (cf. impact
on privacy of the patient). Another issue that the government is concerned
with is related to equal access to technologies. An issue that needs further
consideration by policy makers is the legal framework according to which
the health-care or wellness services (including applications of BAN) are
offered on the market. How should the quality of these services be assessed
and who should be allowed to offer such services? For instance, if a private
company offers home-care monitoring, what quality assurance is possible?
Lack of legal framework and guidelines in this respect can have dramatic
impacts not only for the social embedment of these technologies but also for
the users of the technology in case widespread diffusion takes place.
Our interview with representatives of the Ministry of Health, Welfare and
Sports in the Netherlands suggests that the main issue from an ethical point
of view that needs to be addressed concerns information provision and safe-
guarding the right of the patients to be well informed about the pros and
cons of technology adoption. Such information provision is essential for the
decision-making process of the patient in terms of maintaining their personal
norms and values. Related to this, of course, is the issue of freedom of choice.
Thus, when the patient refuses to use specific applications or technologies on
the basis of their norms and values, this should not have further consequences
for the right of the patient for access to high-quality care. Furthermore, the
quality of care should be preserved at all times and that will remain the main
responsibility of the government. Therefore, alternatives have to be considered
and patients should always be provided with alternative choices.
12.3.3 Anticipating Ethical, Legal, and Social Aspects
In the previous paragraphs, we have explained the transformational forces that
are at interplay among various stakeholders in the field of health care. We have
argued that these forces along with the new promises of ambient intelligence,
and in particular the concept of BAN, play an important role in facing future
challenges and shaping the system to provide the necessary solutions. Although
these new solutions are promising, they also bring along challenges. Provision
of health-care services to patients at mobile locations according medical stand-
ards can cause changes to the situation of the patients, care providers, and other
involved stakeholders. For BAN, technological issues are being addressed in
a variety of settings; however, to be successfully embedded in the practice of
health care, other challenges have to be addressed that lie beyond technological
issues and are more related to the ethical, social, and relational contexts.
12.3.3.1 Blurring Boundary between Health-Care and Wellness Services
An important issue that needs further consideration is that strategies for
implementation and integration of BAN concept will be dependent on the
