One way is by using ethical concepts to shed light on everyday practice. It means any ethical theory which judges the rightness or wrongness of an action on whether or not the outcome is good or bad. Ghaemi SN, Goodwin FK. Stud Health Technol Inform. Also, it is advantageous because there is no guesswork; the physician does not have to predictconsequences because while . No other adults or swimmers are anywhere to be seen, so without your help the child will drown. A Consequentialist Manifesto for the Evolution of Medical Law. utilitarianism could be seen as a radically egalitarian philosophy. Reimagining Medical Education in the Age of AI, Steven A. Wartman, MD, PhD and C. Donald Combs, PhD. Accessed July 31, 2018. MeSH Privacy and data protection are thought to present challenges for the use of FRT for health applications. According to consequentialism, the right act is that act which has the best consequences. But in Jims case his pain at killing one person is a relatively minor consideration when the very lives of nineteen others (and the happiness of their families and friends) is at stake. A few states, such as Illinois, have regulations that limit uses for which consumer biometric data can be collected.36 The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) governs handling of patients health records and personal health information and includes privacy protections for personally identifiable information. Epub 2021 May 4. 104-191, 110 Stat 1936. Accessed July 25, 2018. Moral distress was also evident in the literature and findings, with moral dissonance recognised and articulated by more experienced nurses. MIT Technology Review. To this objection, the consequentialist can protest that alienation can be a virtue. Looks like youve clipped this slide to already. This helps prevent a surge of infected patients in the existing healthcare facilities. Instead, it is being driven by patients, who are increasingly turning into consumers. As FRT becomes capable of detecting a wider range of health conditions, such as behavioral24 or developmental disorders,25 health care organizations and software developers will need to decide which types of analyses should be included in a FRT system and the conditions under which patients might need to be informed of incidental findings. mHealthIntelligence. For instance, most people would agree that lying is wrong. Smart and Bernard Williams, 1973. But as previously stated, war and the strife and chaos that comes with it are undesirable; however, in this particular circumstance something that may be bad as war can be said to be a for a good cause. JONAS Healthc Law Ethics Regul. Patient privacy. Biom Technol Today. FRT systems can store data as a complete facial image or as a facial template.34 Facial templates are considered biometric data and thus personally identifiable information.35 The idea that a photo can reveal private health information is relatively new, and privacy regulations and practices are still catching up. What matters in this example is saving the highest number of lives, and how this is attained is unimportant. 2005 Dec;31(12):739-42. doi: 10.1136/jme.2005.011908. April 11, 2017. https://www.technologyreview.com/s/604087/the-dark-secret-at-the-heart-of-ai/. (2). Changes in the Earth's climate can affect public health, agriculture, water supplies, energy production and use, land use and development, and recreation. Consequentialism claims that whether an action is right or wrong depends on the consequences that it brings about. M1- Analyse the impact of prevening discriminaion for individuals with diferent needs. For example, if FRT diagnostic software develops to the point that it is used not just to augment but to replace a physicians judgment, ethical and legal questions may arise regarding which entity appropriately has liability.41 Or if FRT is used to monitor compliance, track patients whereabouts, or assist in other kinds of surveillance, patients trust in physicians could be eroded, undermining the therapeutic alliance. Consequentialism Consequentialism is an ethical theory that judges whether or not something is right by what its consequences are. Williams example shows that consequentialism disregards the agents own personal commitments and allows for negative responsibility. One of the consequences of a breach of confidentiality could be that the patient will lose trust in The most famous form of consequentialist ethics is utilitarianism which was first proposed by Jeremy Bentham and then furthered by John Stuart Mill in the 19th century. Roughly speaking, the consequentialist believes that outcomes are all that matter, and that people should therefore endeavor to act so as to produce the best consequences, based on an impartial perspective as to what is best. March 21, 2017. http://www.mobihealthnews.com/content/fdna-launches-app-based-tool-clinicians-using-facial-recognition-ai-and-genetic-big-data. No one desires the strife of war in life, but it is sometimes necessary and morally justified to engage in war. Something is then considered "wrong" if it creates the opposite reaction. 2016;2016(5):2-3. Robert Torrance continues a debate, started by Charlotte Blease in an earlier issue of the Journal of Medical Ethics, about what conditions must be met in order for patients to consent to receive electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) ( see page 371 ). In order to meet these challenges effectively, we need to identify how nurses contribute the resolution of these dilemmas. Articles. Nurses use these in contributing to the resolution of these dilemmas. Indeed, many As with any clinical innovation, FRT tools should be expected to demonstrate accuracy for specific uses and to demonstrate that overall benefits outweigh risks.26 Detecting and evaluating bias in data and results should also receive close ethical scrutiny.27 In machine learning, the quality of the results reflects the quality of data input to the system28an issue sometimes referred to as garbage in, garbage out. For example, when images used to train software are not drawn from a pool that is sufficiently racially diverse, the system may produce racially biased results.29 If this happens, FRT diagnostics might not work as well for some racial or ethnic groups as others. According to this theory, it would be unethical for you to speed on an empty street at two oclock in the morning. P2. Beneficence and non-maleficence to weigh out the benefits and the duty of doing no harm to subsequently consider what is in the patient's best interest. There are several varieties of utilitarianism. Our Biometric Future: Facial Recognition Technology and the Culture of Surveillance. Ethical decision making in nurses. Some of the moral philosophers associated with this theory include Jeremy Bentham, David Hume, Henry Sidgwick and many others. There are rewards if you do something good, and there are repercussions if you do something wrong. PART 1 . Bookshelf The oppressor, obviously, retaliates with ever more repressive measures to crush the minority by force. Borsos Z, Gyori M. Can automated facial expression analysis show differences between autism and typical functioning? Medium. Tunkelang D. Ten things everyone should know about machine learning. 2021 Jul-Aug;42(4):787-791. doi: 10.1016/j.gerinurse.2021.04.020. Tap here to review the details. Does the pain that Jim would feel not need to be taken into account when looking at the best overall outcome? The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the Aggregative Consequentialism = which consequences are best is some function of the values of parts of those consequences (as opposed to rankings of whole worlds or sets of consequences). http://arxiv.org/abs/1403.0485. A requirement to uphold the confidentiality of information shared in the physician-patient relationship is a central tenet of medical professionalism that, while at risk and undermined in various ways in modern medicine [1], has been consistently endorsed from the time of Hippocrates. Clipboard, Search History, and several other advanced features are temporarily unavailable. The best-known consequentialist ethical theory is utilitarianism, which says that the wrongness or rightness of an action depends on the amount of overall good or utility that is produced. The PubMed wordmark and PubMed logo are registered trademarks of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). In many hospitals and healthcare trusts across the world this is the thought process that is guiding their policies regarding who should be treated in hospitals. Consequentialism is a rival to such moral theories as deontology, contractualism, and virtue ethics. A novel approach to the detection of acromegaly: accuracy of diagnosis by automatic face classification. If such a public health goal (e .g., herd immunity, protecting the most vulnerable, protecting the capacity of the acute health care system) can be achieved with less co ercive -1- COVID-19 and mandatory vaccination: Ethical considerations and caveats The .gov means its official. It presents Utilitarianism as characterised by the following five features: (1) consequentialism, (2) welfarism, (3) equality of moral status and impartiality, (4) maximisation, (5) aggregation. Sci Rep. 2018;8(1):9317. such as consequentialism, virtue ethics . Learn more in our Cookie Policy. Information, consent, and informed consent. Activate your 30 day free trialto continue reading. A person should do whatever leads to the best consequence. This chapter outlines core characteristics of Utilitarianism and explores them with regard to their significance in healthcare settings. . On the one hand, the use of FRT to monitor the safety of dementia patients could be perceived as having benefits that outweigh the burdens of surveillance. 2013;118:1-9. doi: 10.1016/B978-0-444-53501-6.00001-9. 2021 Sep 17;18(18):9786. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18189786. You must recall and relate knowledge of how the professionals in the case studies promote equality and diversity and the skills and attributes needed to do this.. 25 (4). Many utilitarians take a hedonistic approach, saying that utility equates to happiness, so we should act to produce the greatest happiness, and to minimize pain and unhappiness. consequentialism can give us an account of responsibility. The committee evaluates the impact of relationships on health care. An action that brings about more benefit than harm is good, while an action that causes more harm than benefit is not. FOIA The other concern people express is the tendency of consequentialism to use ends justify the means logic. In order to meet these challenges effectively, we need to identify how nurses contribute the resolution of these dilemmas. I intend to show that expecting individuals to take an impersonal standpoint in a decision that so greatly affects them is unrealistic and leads to alienation. Conclusion: Complex and expensive treatment options have increased the frequency and emphasis of ethical decision-making in healthcare. Decision-making; ethics of care; interprofessional working; moral dissonance; moral distress; nursepatient relationships; professional ethics; qualitative research; virtue ethics. In response to criticism of the unappealing idea that by doing nothing Jim is as responsible for the deaths of the twenty Indians as the captain, the consequentialist can choose to bite the bullet by accepting the idea of negative responsibility; that is, to accept that we can be held morally responsible for not acting. . Guidance regarding methods for de-identification of protected health information in accordance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule. She earned a JD from Harvard Law School and a PhD from the University of Chicago in comparative human development. Consequentialism is an ethical theory that judges whether or not something is right by what its consequences are. Williams furthers this explanation; making the best of a bad job is one of its maxims, and it will have something to say even on the difference between massacring seven million, and massacring seven million and one (Consequentialism and its Critics, 1988). Unauthorized use of these marks is strictly prohibited. Moore 1912, chs. Imagine you are in your local park feeding the ducks on the pond when you hear a loud splash; a child has fallen into the pond and is struggling to swim. Is it better to give my money to charity or spend it studying medicine so I can save lives? The peace that seems within reach, the reduction of gun related crimes and homicides, the dream of borderless territories and the future of a society that bears the fertile ground of excellence and achievement, can now be balanced on the spectrum of consequentialism. Participants and context: Participants were interviewed about their contribution to the resolution of ethical dilemmas within the context of working in an acute hospital ward. Please enable it to take advantage of the complete set of features! 1-2.) sharing sensitive information, make sure youre on a federal Please enable it to take advantage of the complete set of features! Answer (1 of 4): The term 'consequentialism' was coined by the philosopher G E M Anscombe in her 1958 paper, 'Modern Moral Philosophy' (Philosophy 33, No. and transmitted securely. Benthams views are most closely aligned withact utilitarianism. If Jim refuses to kill anyone then he is therefore responsible for the deaths of the others. Accessed January 13, 2018. Consequentialism teaches that people should do whatever produces the greatest amount of good consequences. He believed it was too difficult for a society to run if it had to consider the specific costs/benefits of every single action. (Cf. The site is secure. It provides criteria and rules for moral evaluation and decision making. All rights reserved. For instance, most people would agree that lying is wrong. 2000 Mar;2(1):29-41. The happiness of the individual is overridden by the happiness of the masses. On the other, FRT medication adherence monitoring might not be sufficiently effective in improving adherence to outweigh the risk of undermining trust in the patient-physician relationship.42. Wired. John Stuart Mill, a student of Benthams, disagreed. This is because all things being equal they will live longer and may contribute more to society over a longer period of time. Non-consequentialism, the person as an end-in-itself, and the significance of status. October 6, 2017. http://www.clinicalinformaticsnews.com/2017/10/06/3d-facial-recognition-gives-healthcare-data-a-new-look.aspx. An example of consequentialism is utilitarianism. This will take a team effort and true representation of humility and togetherness. The question that concerns me, is, to what extent is a normative theory, consequentialism in particular, constrained by requirements that stem from To have complete access to the thousands of philosophy articles on this site, please, Jim finds himself in the central square of a small South American town. Facial shape analysis identifies valid cues to aspects of physiological health in Caucasian, Asian, and African populations. Abortion can be categorized as both a legal, and ethical issue. Oxford (UK): Oxford University Press; 2019. Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008, Pub L No. It is a problem that consequentialism forces us to take an impersonal, objective view of situations and override some of our most cherished beliefs because of its requirement that we focus exclusively on the final result. Provide a clear and easy-to-understand guidelines. Consequentialism And Abortion. Healthcare workers often face a problem of decision - making. Researchers flag up facial recognition racial bias [news]. Before (b). The legal and ethical concerns that arise from using complex predictive analytics in health care. 110-233, 122 Stat 881. It is one of the main causes of preventable blindness in young children from developing countries. Robert M. Taylor, in Handbook of Clinical Neurology, 2013 Deontology. Should Watson Be Consulted for a Second Opinion? Nurses' tension-based ethical decision making in rural acute care settings. Now customize the name of a clipboard to store your clips. Articles, podcasts, videos, research & courses tackling the issues that matter. One recent example that gained notoriety was an FRT system used to identify gay men from a set of photos that may have simply identified the kind of grooming and dress habits stereotypically associated with gay men.30 The developers of this FRT system did not intend it to be used for a clinical purpose but rather to illustrate how bias can influence FRT findings.30, Thankfully, potential solutions for addressing bias in FRT systems exist. This basic form of consequentialism holds an action as ethical if and only if it produces more beneficial/pleasure-causing outcomes than negative/pain-causing ones. In: Proceedings of the 2016 International Conference on Computing, Communication and Automation (ICCCA); April 29-30, 2016; Noida, India:399-404. Senior Lecturer/ Researcher Anglia Ruskin University UK/ SAMs TT. But if telling a lie would help save a person's life, consequentialism says it's the right thing to do. This structure means that the ends often justify the means when seeking to create a specific result. Accessed July 17, 2018. In: Proceedings of the 2015 IEEE 28th Canadian Conference on Electrical and Computer Engineering (CCECE); May 3-6, 2015; Halifax, Canada:1199-1202. In one moment Jim goes from being a tourist in a foreign country to becoming a murderer for the sake of morality. In: Philosophical Foundations of Medical Law. Furthermore, whilst the consequentialist can agree that the individual agents integrity should not be ignored, as Williams explains, (h)is own substantial projects and commitments come into it, but only as one lot among others. (Ethics, 1994) As our integrity is one among many others and consequentialism expects us all to take an impersonal standpoint, it would follow that everyone would need to disregard their personal commitments, which is likely to lead in turn to overall unhappiness, a problem for a moral theory with hedonistic tendencies. As what matters is only the end result, who is acting or how they arrive at the decisions they make is irrelevant. 1992 Fall;21(4):354-89. There will need to be careful thought and study of the broader impact of FRT in health care settings. 1828 Words8 Pages. Instant access to millions of ebooks, audiobooks, magazines, podcasts and more. If consequentialism is to take a hedonistic approach that we should act so as to maximise overall happiness then it results in a contradiction. Handb Clin Neurol. Much of medical law is consequentialist in nature. The theory is also impartial. There are two broad schools of ethical theory: consequentialism and non-consequentialism. He is likely to have his own commitments in which murder (rather than letting others die) would go against his most fundamental beliefs. FRT raises novel challenges regarding privacy. Bahrampour T. Can your face reveal how long youll live? How Should Clinicians Communicate With Patients About the Roles of Artificially Intelligent Team Members? We will close by outlining the areas where consequentialism is at odds with current medical law and how medical law should evolve according to consequentialism. Background: The most famous form of consequentialist ethics is utilitarianism which was first proposed by Jeremy Bentham and then furthered by John Stuart Mill in the 19th century. (Though, most versions of non-consequentialism allow some ethical relevance of consequences). Furthermore, consumer-centred healthcare is becoming heavily reliant on digital technology. When expanded it provides a list of search options that will switch the search inputs to match the current selection. One does not have to be a specialist in ethics to do so. Geriatr Nurs. government site. US Department of Health and Human Services. Julian Savulescu and Dominic Wilkinson 2019. It emphasises four key ethical principles of autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice, which are shared by most ethical theories, and blends these with virtues and practical wisdom. Join us! It is frequently maintained that an exclusively consequentialist morality uniquely possesses certain advantages; I shall argue that the case for the superiority of consequentialism has yet to be made out. We should note that Consequentialism is based on two principles: Whether an act is right or wrong depends only on the results of that act. Disclaimer. Loos HS, Wieczorek D, Wrtz, RP, von der Malsburg C, Horsthemke B. Schneider HJ, Kosilek RP, Gnther M, et al. Should Electronic Health Record-Derived Social and Behavioral Data Be Used in Precision Medicine Research? January 11, 2018. https://medium.com/@blaisea/do-algorithms-reveal-sexual-orientation-or-just-expose-our-stereotypes-d998fafdf477. FRT is being developed to predict health characteristics, such as longevity and aging. Managing ongoing swallow safety through information-sharing: An ethnography of speech and language therapists and nurses at work on stroke units. Use of facial recognition technology for medical purposes: balancing privacy with innovation. The nature and extent of these effects, and whether they will be harmful or beneficial, will vary regionally and over time. Is a theory of moral obligation their proponent puts it forth as a framework within which a person can correctly determine, on any given occasion, what he or she (morally) ought to do [ 2 ]. Nurses' experiences of providing ethical care to the patients with COVID-19: A phenomenological study. 2020 Jun;27(4):1032-1043. doi: 10.1177/0969733020906594. 2022 Jun;22:100717. doi: 10.1016/j.jemep.2021.100717. Rather than taking into account our own attitudes towards an action, by taking an objective standpoint we are able to remove ourselves from our usual social groups and ideologies which affect the way in which we act and look at a situation, and instead we should act without bias. Viewed from a consequentialist perspective, one of the primary purposes of an organizational ethics program is to ensure that the organization is not penalized for the actions of its individual employees and to avoid the bad consequences that might result from such actions (e.g., fines, lawsuits, etc). This is not the greatest amount of happiness for the moral agent but the greatest amount of happiness overall - this is known as the greatest happiness principle. Youve read one of your four complimentary articles for this month. Deontology: Deontology : Advantages: This moral theory is very useful in making impartial decisions. So whilst both acts are morally abhorrent, the consequentialist will inevitably say that if these are the only options available then not only should we choose to massacre seven million, but that it would be right to do so. For consequentialism, life is a numbers game; an action should aim to make the majority happy, regardless of who they are, and should aim to go for actions that produce minimal pain. Any prior commitments are disregarded or, if taken into consideration, are unlikely to have any substantial effect on the outcome. Select Accept to consent or Reject to decline non-essential cookies for this use. January 9, 2017. https://www.wired.com/2017/01/computers-can-tell-glance-youve-got-genetic-disorders/. Haahr A, Norlyk A, Martinsen B, Dreyer P. Nurs Ethics. Now we will look at an example of how utilitarianism may be used in a medical context. The final result was amazing, and I highly recommend www.HelpWriting.net to anyone in the same mindset as me. Published April 25, 2018. B. Consequentialism- main emphasis is on the outcome or consequence of the action . . In-depth content analysis of the data was undertaken via NVivo coding and thematic identification. Background: Complex and expensive treatment options have increased the frequency and emphasis of ethical decision-making in healthcare. We've encountered a problem, please try again. Accessed October 26, 2018. I discuss this possibility briefly, and then set it aside. As what matters is only the end result, who is acting or how they arrive at the decisions they make is irrelevant. More specifically, it protects the privacy of biometric data, including full-face photographs and any comparable images, which are directly related to an individual.37 Thus, facial images used for FRT health applications would be protected by HIPAA.38 Entities covered by HIPAA, including health care organizations, clinicians, and third-party business associates, would need to comply with HIPAA regulations regarding the use and disclosure of protected health information.38 However, clinicians should advise patients that there may be limited protections for storing and sharing data when using a consumer FRT tool.