Health Information Technology: Moral & Ethical Issues Regarding Life Support

“Many of these technologies are so fundamentally disruptive that they challenge the very practice of science. Discoveries once unimaginable except in science fiction are appearing at such a rapidrate that there is no time to evaluate their moral and ethical implications in a deliberate and measured fashion. Genetic engineering, human cloning, tissue engineering, intelligent robotics,nanotechnology, suspended animation, regeneration, and species prolongation are but a few that will revolutionize what it means to be human and what the ultimate fate of the species may be. Unless these issuesare addressed at this time, we shall face the consequences of an uncontrolled and unprepared future.”(Satava)

“Technology is rampant, exponentially growing beyond the bounds normally comprehensibleby the human mind” (Satava, 2003). Research and Development has produced many new discoveries that were once inconceivable and technological advancements are accelerating so rapidly, that associatedmoral and ethical issues are being ignored. Modern advancements in medical technology have played a vital role in helping people throughout the globe suffering from various health complications.Technology has sustained the lives of critically ill patients through the use of mechanical life support. A mechanical life support system uses medical technology to aid a patient with vital functionsof the body that have been severely damaged. “The use of life-support systems to prolong the life of a patient who has suffered apparently irreversible damage to a vital organ system may raise suchethical issues as the quality of life, euthanasia, and the right to die, and has been the subject of much legal and moral debate” (Artificial life support, 2010).
“Such techniques include artificialpacemakers, internal defibrillators, dialysis machines (see kidney, artificial), and respirators. Some people specify their wishes concerning prolonged artificial life support, especially should they...