Techno-Anthropological Ethics and Health Information Systems Technologies

One of the most important Techno-Anthropological intellectual virtues is the ability to make contextualized ethical judgments of new and emerging technologies. This Techno-Anthropological core competence is especially relevant in Health Information Systems Technologies, which is a field characterized by inherent ethical dilemmas such as the pros and cons of regulation of research databases with sensitive information, or storing and application of tissue and blood samples. In this paper we present a method to make 'proper and quick' ethical estimates in Health Information. The method guides its user to make ethical judgments by splitting the judgment process into four steps: (1) Identification of intended beneficial consequences, potential misuse, unintended side effects and long-term consequences for culture and society. (2) Linkage of intended consequences, misuse, side effects and cultural implications to appropriate ethical values. (3) Identification of ethical dilemmas related to a specific use of the Health Information Systems Technology under assessment. (4) Formulation of appropriate technological and institution design criteria that can transcend the identified ethical dilemmas. The methodology will be applied to a the discussions at a hearing on ethical challenges accompanying research involving health data organized by the Danish Council of Ethics and the case of risk reducing breast cancer surgery based on diagnosed genetic predisposition to breast cancer.