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Health as the Moral Principle of Post-Genomic Society: Data-Driven Arguments Against Privacy and Autonomy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 May 2019

KAROLIINA SNELL
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Abstract:

In Finland, as well as all over the globe, great weight is put on the possibilities of large data collections and ‘big data’ for generating economic growth, enhancing medical research, and boosting health and wellbeing in totally new ways. This massive data gathering and usage is justified by the moral principle of improving health. The imperative of health thus legitimizes data collection, new infrastructures and innovation policy. It is also supported by the rhetoric of health promotion. New arrangements in health research and innovations in the health sector are justified, as they produce health, while the moral principle of health also obligates individual persons to pursue healthy lifestyles and become healthy citizens. I examine how, in this context of Finnish data-driven medicine, arguments related to privacy and autonomy become silenced when contrasted with the moral principle of health.

Keywords

data-driven medicinehealthprivacybiobanksgenomic knowledgeautonomychoicestrategyinnovation policyconsent
Type
Special Section: Health, Morality, and Moralism
Information
Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics , Volume 28 , Issue 2 , April 2019 , pp. 201 - 214
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2019 

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Notes

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