Is there a technological imperative in health care?

Full Abstract

The question in the title will be addressed by first answering the question:
What is a technological imperative? A review of the literature makes it clear that there are many descriptions and explanations of the technological imperative in health care, and that not all of them are important to consider. One conception of the technological imperative that is important is the one that implies that technology reduces our responsibility toward our actions. I argue that that this conception cannot be justified. That is, there is no imperative that frees us from our responsibility for developing, producing, advertising, assessing, implementing, using, and banishing technology in health care. On the contrary, the increased possibilities provided by technology result in an increased responsibility. That is, there is no technological imperative, but technology promotes a moral imperative; in particular, it promotes a moral imperative to proper assessment.

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Author information

Author/s: Hofmann, Bjørn (B);

Affiliation: University of Oslo.

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article

Journal: International journal of technology assessment in health care (Int J Technol Assess Health Care), published in England. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2002-; vol 18 (issue 3) : pp 675-89

Dates: Created 2002/10/23; Completed 2002/11/19; Revised 2004/11/17;

PMID: 12391958, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Humans
Power (Psychology)
Social Responsibility
Technology Assessment, Biomedical - ethics

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