“互聯網+”時代患者隱私保護的倫理思考及對策

Ethical Considerations and Guidelines concerning the Protection of Patients Privacy in the Information Age

Abstract

LANGUAGE NOTE | Document text in Chinese; abstract also in English.

本文分析“互聯網+”時代患者隱私保護所面臨的新威脅，對傳統的隱私保護技術、體制制度以及規範的有效性進行反思，尋求新技術應用與患者隱私保護的結合點。作者認為，對患者隱私的保護，不應該成為新技術應用的障礙，而是將二者有機地結合起來，形成良好的互動。文章就在信息時代提高信息意識、管理、技術三個層面提出具體的保護建議。

“Information technology” refers to automated systems for storing, processing, and distributing information. In medical practice, this involves the use of computers and communication networks to collect and store medical information and data. Ethical guidelines for data protection and privacy have become critical issues in medical ethics in the age of the Internet and information technology. Both healthcare and IT professionals face questions of responsibility, accountability, and liability in handling private information and data.

This paper discusses the tension between the problems in medical practice that may violate patients’ privacy and the effectiveness of data collection brought about by information systems. Although China has acknowledged the importance of privacy protection in past two decades, medical malpractice such as releasing patient’s medical history without informed consent or even selling medical data for commercial purpose still exists. Apart from the potential harms caused by releasing private information, there are moral issues with regard to informational inequality and discrimination. The guidelines suggested by the authors have three facets: ethical education around privacy protection, effective regulation, and responsive management of IT institutions to evaluate the effects of contemporary information systems and the Internet on the protection of individual privacy.

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