Читать книгу Do No Harm - Matthew Webster - Страница 10

The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.

—Henry G. Bohn, A Handbook of Proverbs, 1855

“First, do no harm” is attributed to the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates. It is part of the Hippocratic oath. The reality is that every day, doctors and hospitals need to make decisions about how to best help patients under the existing conditions. If doctors need to operate, they may harm the patient by making an incision—sometimes to save a patient's life. This is a calculated and acceptable harm from a moral perspective.

What isn't always as obvious to hospitals is the harm introduced by using an internet-connected medical device. In many cases, such as in hospitals, the doctors may have limited input about which devices are chosen for their environment. These devices have critical medical value not only for the hospital or doctor's office, but also from the patient's point of view. They are at the forefront of today's medical transformations. Often the harm that is introduced is unknown, unseen, or downplayed—if it is assessed at all.

This chapter explores, at a high level, the state of internet-connected medical devices and how those devices are impacting hospitals and unfortunately, and indirectly, human life. More importantly, this chapter covers the overall trends related to hospitals, partially as a result of internet-connected medical devices and how businesses evolved to the state they are in today. First, we need to understand the risks that internet-connected medical devices pose.