Article: Towards an ethical use of information systems in health

J. BERANGER*, P. LE COZ**

* Keosys - UMR ADÉS 7268 – AMU/ EFS/ CNRS
** Département des sciences humaines, faculté de médecine Timone - UMR ADÉS 7268 – AMU/ EFS/ CNRS

Abstract

New information and communication technologies (NICT) are transforming the practice of medicine. Information systems (IS) appear complexes to most of users. What are the data hosted? Who can I transfer them? It is clear that patients as well as health professionals are struggling to locate in these new devices sprawling computerized exchanges. Physicians have to communicate through electronic media with patients? How do they communicate with each other? The health information circulating on the networks are secure?

Faced with these challenges, an ethical vision is necessary to find coherence and meaning in the use of this technology. This ethical reflection refers to an ethical system of values that are associated with four universal ethical principles: autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence and justice. From this, an ethical space, based on the purposes, values, rules, standards and limits, is made. This ethical context is also based on the behavior and expectations of users. It provides sufficient conditions for the acceptance of a contingency oriented IS. This train of thought is reflected in the ethical development of an “ethic cube of a contingency accepted”. In this analytical perspective of IS, a human and social development take place in order to achieve legitimacy for ethical reflection. The study of IS then turned to the service person, opening up the relationship and sense.