This group project is based on the ethical aspects of the future of precision medicine. The outcome of this project, a future prediction - a world.
While precision medicines generate amazing results, the medicine is so precisely developed for certain cancers with certain mutations that it creates a hierarchy between the patients based on the medicine works on ones’ DNA and not on the others’. This project is a reaction to this problem.
The world with Precision Medicine in 2029
Ethics is defined as the moral principles that govern a person’s behaviour or the conducting of an activity. Ethics plays a vital role through all threads of life, within the medical field even more so.
Doctors are in unique positions of power and trust around potentially vulnerable individuals. As medicine moves forward and patients are presented with more and more choices we are faced with new ethical questions to consider.
In the ethical world of 2029, in the past ten years, advancements in Precision Medicine have resulted in a transformation of the wider healthcare landscape, and significantly within the field of cancer.
Precision Medicine takes a step away from the traditional ‘one size fits all’ method and instead patients receive care developed specifically for their genetic and personal requirements. The impact of this attitude shift is felt throughout healthcare and our wider everyday lives. With less side effects and more effective treatments, it becomes possible to live a full life, less restricted by cancer.
With an increase in the aging population, more people will experience cancer but with Precision Medicine we’re able to manage the disease more like that of a chronic illness.
We have chosen five key aspects of this world to present in our exhibit. With this exhibition we wanted to show different aspects of what we see as the new normal; life with cancer, and a world where healthcare is seamlessly integrated in our everyday life.
With the increase in access for patient genetic sequencing, we’re able to not only gather more information for research, but also develop more specific treatments aligned to particular strands of cancer, allowing patients a longer life with their cancer. A steady stream of new data is required in order to develop these new treatments, as such data donors are rewarded with the ability to use their data as a form of currency. This can be exchanged for goods & services.
In the way that coeliacs are catered for currently within the mainstream consumer market, the same has now occurred for cancer patients and they are now offered support with their adapted lifestyles through consumer goods. Much like how coeliacs need dietary support, those living with cancer deserve the same level of consideration and thought.
A key part of our new integrated healthcare system, is a move away from hospitals. Constant monitoring has eliminated the need for continual hospital appointments, and changed the relationship between patient and doctor. This has facilitated the creation of a new role; ‘the healthcare manager’; an ever present ethereal figure, offering guidance through life. This gives doctors real time and accurate feedback from patients allowing for a higher quality of care. In 2029 a further increase in reliance on the Internet Of
Things and Smart objects has allowed the role of care manage to be fulfilled by AI.
As an example of a domestic smart object - a touch-point for the care manager. In the same way as Google home or Alexa facilitated a two way conversation, patients can communicate with their care manager.
Things and Smart objects has allowed the role of care manage to be fulfilled by AI.
As an example of a domestic smart object - a touch-point for the care manager. In the same way as Google home or Alexa facilitated a two way conversation, patients can communicate with their care manager.
Precision Medicine allows for more effective treatments, fitting more seamlessly into a patient’s everyday life. Ten years ago patients had to hit pause on their life for cancer, however this is no longer the case. Precision Medicine has allowed for treatments to become less toxic and remove the immediate need of medical staff, allowing patients the
opportunity to receive treatment in more accessible environments. They can live their lives normally side by side with cancer.
opportunity to receive treatment in more accessible environments. They can live their lives normally side by side with cancer.
Life post cancer also changes as more people outlive their disease. Those in remission can live in a constant fear of cancer recurrence. Reacting to this, strategies have been put in place to support those living in remission. This includes the continued role of healthcare manager and specialised objects and services. Who better to help you with the disease than someone who’s gone through it before.
In summary, we have chosen these 5 elements to represent as to us they all pose new ethical questions and considerations. We have left our exhibit open so that the viewer can personally interpret their own unaffected reactions to the ideas presented. As precision medicine is personal so to is our moral compass and what we think of as ethical will differ between individuals.
Alison Erridge, Gabriela Karolak, Morrighan Humpleby, Sara Safrany
2019
2019
