Skip to main content
  • Book
  • Open Access
  • © 2019

The Ethics of Medical Data Donation

  • This book is Open Access
  • Presents an ethical approach to utilizing personal medical data
  • Provides timely interdisciplinary research on biomedical big data
  • Pioneers the concept of medical data donation

Part of the book series: Philosophical Studies Series (PSSP, volume 137)

Buy it now

Buying options

Hardcover Book USD 59.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

Table of contents (12 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-x
  2. Ethical Medical Data Donation: A Pressing Issue

    • Jenny Krutzinna, Luciano Floridi
    Pages 1-6Open Access
  3. Conceptualising the Ethics of Medical Data Donation

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 7-7
    2. Data Donation: How to Resist the iLeviathan

      • Barbara Prainsack
      Pages 9-22Open Access
    3. Data Donations as Exercises of Sovereignty

      • Patrik Hummel, Matthias Braun, Peter Dabrock
      Pages 23-54Open Access
    4. The Ethics of Uncertainty for Data Subjects

      • Philip J. Nickel
      Pages 55-74Open Access
  4. Governance and Regulation of Medical Data Donation

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 95-95
  5. Implementing Ethical Medical Data Donation

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 131-131
    2. The Personal Data Is Political

      • Bastian Greshake Tzovaras, Athina Tzovara
      Pages 133-140Open Access
  6. An Ethical Code for Posthumous Medical Data Donation

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 161-161
    2. Enabling Posthumous Medical Data Donation: A Plea for the Ethical Utilisation of Personal Health Data

      • Jenny Krutzinna, Mariarosaria Taddeo, Luciano Floridi
      Pages 163-180Open Access
    3. An Ethical Code for Posthumous Medical Data Donation

      • Jenny Krutzinna, Mariarosaria Taddeo, Luciano Floridi
      Pages 181-195Open Access
  7. Back Matter

    Pages 197-198

About this book

This open access book presents an ethical approach to utilizing personal medical data. It features essays that combine academic argument with practical application of ethical principles. The contributors are experts in ethics and law. They address the challenges in the re-use of medical data of the deceased on a voluntary basis. This pioneering study looks at the many factors involved when individuals and organizations wish to share information for research, policy-making, and humanitarian purposes.

Today, it is easy to donate blood or even organs, but it is virtually impossible to donate one’s own medical data. This is seen as ethically unacceptable. Yet, data donation can greatly benefit the welfare of our societies. This collection provides timely interdisciplinary research on biomedical big data. Topics include the ethics of data donation, the legal and regulatory challenges, and the current and future collaborations.

Readers will learn about the ethical and regulatory challenges associated with medical data donations. They will also better understand the special nature of using deceased data for research purposes with regard to ethical principles of autonomy, beneficence, and justice. In addition, the contributors identify the  key governance issues of such a scheme. The essays also look at what we can learn in terms of best practice from existing medical data schemes.

Reviews

“This book will be appreciated by interdisciplinary scholars and graduate students actively working to concretize the future of policy and ethics regarding data sharing in a globalized, information-based age. ... readers of various backgrounds will find this book to be a rich and useful exploration ... . The book is an accessible, useful, and engaging first step in one of the frontiers of interdisciplinary research.” (Alec Arnold, Doody's Book Reviews, December 7, 2019)

Editors and Affiliations

  • Department of Administration and Organization Theory, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway

    Jenny Krutzinna

  • Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK, The Alan Turing Institute, London, UK

    Luciano Floridi

About the editors

Dr Jenny Krutzinna is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Centre for Research on Discretion and Paternalism, Department of Administration and Organization Theory, University of Bergen, Norway. Previously, she was a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Ethics of Biomedical Big Data at the Digital Ethics Lab at the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, UK. 

Dr Luciano Floridi is Professor of Philosophy and Ethics of Information at the University of Oxford, where he is also the Director of the Digital Ethics Lab of the Oxford Internet Institute. He is Turing Fellow and Chair of the Data Ethics Group of the Alan Turing Institute.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: The Ethics of Medical Data Donation

  • Editors: Jenny Krutzinna, Luciano Floridi

  • Series Title: Philosophical Studies Series

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04363-6

  • Publisher: Springer Cham

  • eBook Packages: Medicine, Medicine (R0)

  • Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2019

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-030-04362-9Published: 12 February 2019

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-04363-6Published: 16 January 2019

  • Series ISSN: 0921-8599

  • Series E-ISSN: 2542-8349

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: X, 198

  • Number of Illustrations: 1 b/w illustrations

  • Topics: Health Policy, Social Policy, Philosophy of Technology

Buy it now

Buying options

Hardcover Book USD 59.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access