Current Issue: Volume 3, Issue 1 (2009)
Ethical, Legal and Technological Aspects of Health Information Management

Introduction

The health care sector across the world is experiencing a massive growth in the use of technology to manage its information. This in turn is raising new ethical and legal issues. Increasingly, screening and genetic prediction means information is concerned with the probability of disease as well as the actual occurrence of disease and long term conditions. The increasing adoption of mixed public/private sector solutions raises concerns over potential conflicts of interest. Concerns over privacy are commonplace: a more sophisticated view of the ethics of electronic patient data needs to take account of the risk of harm from the failure to use technology or a failure to use it properly.

At the same time, the reports into adverse events such as those in Bristol and Manitoba together with an increasingly strong patient empowerment agenda and an increasing emphasis on health promotion and education have highlighted the need for better information for patients.

Guest editor
Alan Gillies, MA PhD FBCS CITP
Professor of Information Management, University of Central Lancashire

Editorials

Articles