Digital Health Technologies Law, Ethics, and the Doctor-Patient Relationship

Increasingly digital technologies are used in healthcare. This book explores eight digital health technologies, situated the context of a life span, from high-throughput genomic sequencing technologies and do-it-yourself (DIY) insulin delivery for diabetes management in paediatrics, to the use of robotic care assistants for older adults and digital advance care decisions. A scene-setting case scenario at the start of each chapter describes the digital technology and identifies the sometimes competing interests of the key stakeholders. Broad themes of resource allocation, access to technologies, informed consent, privacy of health data and ethical concerns are considered in context, alongside analysis of legal duties owed by healthcare professionals to act in their patients’ best interests. This book addresses legal and ethical issues arising from the use of emerging digital health technologies and is of interest to academics, clinicians and regulators and anyone interested in the development of health technologies and the challenges they may present. It focusses on the Australian legal framework, with some comparison to other jurisdictions.

1.Introduction 2. Digital genomic sequencing–who should have access to genomic information? 3. Internet of things and personalised medicine – ‘diy’ ing diabetes management 4. Smart phone apps for mental health 5. AI in diagnosis of health conditions 6. Symptom checker chatbots and informed consent 7. Telehealth –what has been learned through the covid-19 pandemic? 8. Robotic care assistants and older adults 9. A new use for existing technology - digital advance care decisions.

Carolyn Johnston is a legal scholar and currently research fellow at the University of Tasmania, exploring legal and ethical obligations to provide raw genomic information to research participants. She was previously a member of the Centre for Health, Law and Emerging Technologies research team at the University of Melbourne and taught at Melbourne Law School. Carolyn is an experienced clinical ethicist and is chair of the Clinical Ethics Response Group at Monash Children’s Hospital, Melbourne, providing clinical ethics consultation.