title: The wizard behind the curtain: programmers as providers.
abstract: It is almost universally accepted that traditional provider-patient relationships should be governed, at least in part, by the ethical principles set forth by Beauchamp and Childress (Beauchamp and Childress, Principles of biomedical ethics, 1979). These principles include autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence and justice (Beauchamp and Childress, Principles of biomedical ethics, 1979). Recently, however, the nature of medial practice has changed. The pervasive presence of computer technology in medicine raises interesting ethical questions. In this paper we argue that some software designers should be considered health care providers and thus be subject the ethical principles incumbent upon "traditional" providers. We argue that these ethical responsibilities should be applied explicitly rather than as a passive, implicit, set of guidelines.
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, 200 Hawkins Drive, 1008 JCP, Iowa City, IA, 52242, USA. markagraber@gmail.com.|Department of Family Medicine, University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, Iowa City, USA. markagraber@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Mark A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Graber
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, Iowa City, USA.
authors.forename: Olivia
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Bailey
mesh_terms: D061214:Patient Safety; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D012984:Software / Q000941:ethics*