Ethical Issues in Information Technology, Essay Example

Presence of chromosomes in a human cell is known a genome. However, in the field of health, information has been very vital in issues to do with research. Information has been progressively changing, which calls for the adoption of information technology in coming up with relevant solutions and fastening the research processes. However, use of information technology in the medical field calls has been recently affected by the growing unethical practices which have led to the loss of lives, resources, and trust between doctors and patients. The document seeks to critically analyze the ethical issues affecting research by using information technology.

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First, privacy and confidentiality have been among the most unethical behaviors evident in the field of research. Specifically, Internet, one of the branches of information technology has been one of the standard targets among many people. Health issues involve researching past occurrences of specific illnesses. Such circumstances lead to various companies and health organizations revealing private information to the public through journals and other publications. Such events lead to segregation of a particular group of personnel which is not only unethical in the eyes of the law but also to human understanding (Alter, 1996). Most individuals fail to understand that there is a massive variation between what people know from a publication and the reality of events. Such publications mostly end up with the wrong audience. Therefore it is critical for Information technology regulatory firms and health stakeholders to control the spread of careless publication in a bid to protect privacy and confidentiality of the general public.

Autonomy is yet another emerging issue as far as the use of information technology in the medical field is concerned. Autonomy in the area of technology gives an individual the authority to think independently in addition to making choices regarding the environment and context of the society surrounding them. Therefore the use of information technology in the field of medical research should provide room for people to dictate the kind of information getting to various research platforms, for example, electronic databases. In respect to the ethical issue under discussion, patients have always been victims of infringement of their independent freedom. A patient wish should maintain any information in the public records such as the electronic hospital records. There should be no any form of alteration of patient information recorded by a health professional either by the public or private sector without the patient's consent. In most cases, patients have been a threat to themselves in respect to maintaining a high level of autonomy.

Justice, which is a theory in existence in almost all the fields of human practice, is yet another burning issue affecting ethical behavior in providing health information to the public. By deriving from its meaning, health justice relates to treating all people in a particular society with same mercy and fairness, so does electronic health records. In a bid to secure a solution to curing human disease, governmental institutions such as the department of health must ensure that adequate information reaches all people in equal measures. Fairness can only be achievable if the machinery and procedures such as correct hardware and software appliances, network infrastructures and availability of data to all people in a society(Jamshed et al, 2018). A digital divide which involves spreading of useful health information to a specific group and class of individuals should be avoided at all cost as it leads to social injustice.

Application of the principles of beneficence and none-beneficence are good examples of ethical issues with regards to engaging information technology in research of various remedies to human illnesses. The two laws indicate that all stakeholders involved in the health sector should practice excellent and pleasing activities and avoid all evil and wicked acts that endanger the lives of human beings. Development of health information systems not only benefits research and other biochemical experiments but also they are of great benefit to the patients. Therefore to successfully apply both principles as mentioned above, it is critical to allow patients to publicize or have a link of providing health practitioners with raw data about their health conditions which might be useful to conduct research continuously. On the same case, it is also vital to give the doctors rights of accessing patient's information publicized through various electronic records. Such occurrence becomes beneficial to both parties.

Security breaches have always been one of the most common ethical issues in the information technology sector. Security issues have continuously affected the health sector through unlawfully accessing different health organization's networks and databases. Individuals responsible for such actions are known as hackers. They use different techniques such as code injections to view private patient data. In most cases when hackers get access to patient's data, they manipulate them through threats of spreading and publicizing with the aim of getting money from them. Such claims have been prevalent among public hospitals due to a considerable number of patients.

In conclusion, it is imperative to engage information technology in the health sector, especially in the field of research. However, proper mechanisms should be put in place to ensure that ethical procedures are maintained by both doctors, patients and all other stakeholders in the same field when looking for and publicizing information to the public.

References

Alter, S. (1996). Information Systems: A. In Management Perspective, 2nd ed., Menlo Park, CA: The Benjamin/Cummings.

Jamshed, N., Ozair, F., Sharma, A., & Aggarwal, P. (2018). Ethical issues in electronic health records: A general overview. Retrieved 23 February 2018, from

The Ethics of Electronic Health Records | Clinical Correlations. (2018). Clinicalcorrelations.org. Retrieved 23 February 2018, from http://www.clinicalcorrelations.org/?p=2211