Affiliations: Department of Bioethics, General Clinical Research Center Research Subject Advocacy Program, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine, 9500 Euclid Ave., mailcode NA-10, Cleveland, OH 44195, USA. Tel.: +1 216 444 8720; Fax: +1 216 444 9275; E-mail: bioethics@go.com
Abstract: Although currently in the research stage, scientists argue that drug-releasing microchip implants are on the horizon for future patients. This paper presents ethical reflection on these implants and identifies specific areas of concern; namely, patient monitoring and tracking, and patient privacy and confidentiality. It is foreseeable that drug delivery chips could be multifunctional with the overt or covert addition of sensors that monitor more than just the bloodstream concentrations of prescribed drugs (e.g., cotinine and alcohol in non-compliant patients, patient location via radio frequency or global positioning satellite). Similarly, it is foreseeable that these chips could be embedded with a patient's protected health information that could potentially be accessed and used by unauthorized persons. While drug delivery microchips are theoretically convenient and accurate for dosing, and might offer faster drug delivery with fewer side effects, ethical issues loom and should be contemplated now, while the technology is still under development.
Keywords: ethics, drug implant, privacy, confidentiality, monitoring
