title: Implantable Smart Technologies (IST): Defining the 'Sting' in Data and Device.
abstract: In a world surrounded by smart objects from sensors to automated medical devices, the ubiquity of 'smart' seems matched only by its lack of clarity. In this article, we use our discussions with expert stakeholders working in areas of implantable medical devices such as cochlear implants, implantable cardiac defibrillators, deep brain stimulators and in vivo biosensors to interrogate the difference facets of smart in 'implantable smart technologies', considering also whether regulation needs to respond to the autonomy that such artefacts carry within them. We discover that when smart technology is deconstructed it is a slippery and multi-layered concept. A device's ability to sense and transmit data and automate medicine can be associated with the 'sting' of autonomy being disassociated from human control as well as affecting individual, group, and social environments.
authors.affiliation: Science, Technology and Innovation Studies, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK. gill.haddow@ed.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Gill
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7205-6933
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Haddow
authors.affiliation: Edinburgh Law School, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
authors.forename: Shawn H E
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Harmon
authors.affiliation: Science, Technology and Innovation Studies, The University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
authors.forename: Leah
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gilman
mesh_terms: D020811:Biomedical Technology / Q000639:trends*; D001709:Biotechnology / Q000941:ethics / Q000295:instrumentation*; D003054:Cochlear Implants; D046690:Deep Brain Stimulation; D017147:Defibrillators, Implantable; D004864:Equipment and Supplies / Q000941:ethics; D006801:Humans
keywords: Autonomy; Biotechnologies; Health; Medical devices; Regulation; Smart; Vulnerability