The future of medicine is digital: exploring the ethics of digital pills

Dympna O’sullivan (1) , John Paul Gibson (2, 3, 4) , Yael Jacob (2, 5) , Ioannis Stavrakakis (1) , Damian Gordon (1)

1 TU - Technological University [Dublin]
2 IP Paris - Institut Polytechnique de Paris
3 TSP - INF - Département Informatique
4 METHODES-SAMOVAR - Méthodes et modèles pour les réseaux
5 TSP - Télécom SudParis

Digital Pills are a drug-device technology that allow for the combination of traditional medications with a monitoring system that automatically records data about medication adherence and patients’ physiological data. They are a promising innovation in digital medicine; however, their use has raised a number of ethical concerns. In this paper, we outline some of the main Digital Pills technologies and explore key ethical challenges surrounding their use. In this paper, we introduce educational materials we have developed that provide an insight into the technologies and ethical aspects that underpin Digital Pills.

Mots clés: Traditionnal medicine; Digital; Ethics; Privacy

Domaines: Informatique [cs]; Environnements Informatiques pour l'Apprentissage Humain; Ordinateur et société [cs.CY]; Génie logiciel [cs.SE]; Théorie et langage formel [cs.FL]

Dympna O’sullivan, John Paul Gibson, Yael Jacob, Ioannis Stavrakakis, Damian Gordon. The future of medicine is digital: exploring the ethics of digital pills. MEDINFO 2021: One world, one health – global partnership for digital innovation, 290, IOS Press, pp.1120 - 1121, 2022, Studies in Health Technology and Informatics, 978-1-64368-264-8. ⟨10.3233/SHTI220297⟩. ⟨hal-03729314⟩