Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

A Revised Hippocratic Oath for the Era of Digital Health

A Revised Hippocratic Oath for the Era of Digital Health Physicians have been taking the Hippocratic Oath for centuries. The Oath contains a set of ethical rules designed to guide physicians through their profession; it articulates a set of true north principles that govern the practice of medicine. The Hippocratic Oath has undergone several revisions, most notably in 1948 by the World Medical Association. However, in an era of rapid change in medicine, we believe it is time to update the Oath with modest but meaningful additions so that it optimally reflects 21st century health care. The rise of digital health has dramatically changed the practice of medicine in a way that could not have been easily predicted at the time Hippocrates outlined his ethical principles of medicine. Digital health is a broad term that encompasses use of digital devices and platforms, including electronic health records, patient-provider portals, mobile health apps, wearable biosensors, artificial intelligence, social media platforms, and medical extended reality, to improve the process and outcomes of health care delivery. These technologies have driven a cultural transformation in the delivery of care. We offer modest suggestions to help prompt discussion and contemplation about the current Oath and its relevancy to our changing times. Our suggestions are not meant to be a definitive set of final recommendations. Rather, we propose new text that bodies such as the World Medical Association might consider integrating into an updated Oath, just as previous changes were adopted to ensure the Oath remains relevant and impactful for all physicians and their patients. (J Med Internet Res 2022;24(9):e39177) doi: 10.2196/39177 KEYWORDS hippocratic oath; digital health; eHealth; future; automation; ethics; viewpoint; medical perspective; physician perspective; ethical; digital divide; artificial intelligence; moral studies that have formally evaluated sentiment about the Oath. A Brief History of the Hippocratic Oath In a non–peer-reviewed survey conducted in 2016, Medscape reported opinions about the modern relevance of Hippocrates’ Physicians have been taking the Hippocratic Oath for centuries pledge [3]. Nearly 3000 physicians and medical students [1]. The Oath contains a set of ethical rules designed to guide responded. Reactions were markedly different, particularly when physicians through their profession; it articulates a set of true stratified by age. Of those under age 34 years, only 39% said north principles that govern the practice of medicine. the Oath was still meaningful, whereas 70% of respondents Although there are no explicit penalties enforced upon aged 65 years and older positively endorsed the pledge. Despite physicians who break the Oath, adherence with its principles these varying views about the Oath, coupled with limited remains a time-honored tradition by practicing clinicians. The peer-reviewed data on this topic, most medical schools still ask original Hippocratic Oath describes ideals that are timely and their students to recite either the classic or modified form of the relevant even in the 21st century: to treat patients to the best of Oath. one’s ability; to preserve a patient’s privacy; and to faithfully The Hippocratic Oath has undergone several revisions, most teach the art of medicine to the next generation [2]. notably in 1948 by the World Medical Association; this version Most physicians believe the Oath still has relevance today, is called the Declaration of Geneva [4]. Changes included although viewpoints remain varied and there are few empirical removing lines such as “My colleagues will be my sisters and https://www.jmir.org/2022/9/e39177 J Med Internet Res 2022 | vol. 24 | iss. 9 | e39177 | p. 1 (page number not for citation purposes) XSL FO RenderX JOURNAL OF MEDICAL INTERNET RESEARCH Meskó & Spiegel brothers” and added lines such as “I will respect the autonomy Recognize a Broader Origin of Scientific Gains in and dignity of my patient.” However, in an era of rapid change Medicine in medicine, we believe it is time to update the Oath with modest The Hippocratic Oath entreats physicians to “respect the but meaningful additions so that it optimally reflects 21st century hard-won scientific gains of those physicians on whose steps I health care. walk.” This statement suggests that research is conducted by physicians only, when in fact medical advances originate from Why a Revised Hippocratic Oath Is many stakeholders beyond physicians. In the era of digital health Warranted in the Era of Digital Health and democratized care, research arises not only from physicians and nonclinical researchers, but also from patients who both The rise of digital health has dramatically changed the practice contribute their own data and meaningfully participate in of medicine in a way that could not have been easily predicted research through patient-centered models such as those at the time Hippocrates outlined his ethical principles of supported by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute medicine. Digital health is a broad term that encompasses use [8]. We suggest the following edits, shown in italics: of digital devices and platforms, including electronic health • I will respect the hard-won scientific gains of those records, patient-provider portals, mobile health apps, wearable physicians, researchers, and patients in whose steps I walk, biosensors, artificial intelligence (AI), social media platforms, and gladly share such knowledge as is mine with those who and medical extended reality, to improve the process and are to follow. outcomes of health care delivery. These technologies have driven a cultural transformation in the delivery of care [5]. Acknowledge Both “Sick Care” and Preventive “Health Care” Remote patient monitoring, for example, affords patients and doctors a more complete and accurate picture of disease The Oath focuses on treating the sick but is silent on the role progression outside the walls of a hospital, clinic, or research of preventive medicine for the well, yet modern medicine center. The data from mobile technologies can now be shared emphasizes the importance of preventive care across physical, between patient and provider, allowing greater collaboration, mental, and social realms of health, not just reactive “sick care” stronger therapeutic partnerships, enhanced shared for the ill. Advances in digital health place an emphasis on decision-making, and an increasing shift to preventive and predictive analytics using remotely collected data, and precision proactive care in lieu of reactive care. medicine aims to identify early signs of disease to inform timely preventive care. Given these forces that are shifting medical Extended reality technologies, such as virtual reality and delivery from reactive “sick care” to preventive “health care,” augmented reality, provide opportunities to go beyond the we propose the following simple addition to the Oath, shown traditional exam room and introduce new ways of blending in italics: behavioral and psychosocial care with traditional biomedical care [6]. AI is massively expanding our ability to diagnose and I will apply, for the benefit of the healthy and the sick, all treat patients, but simultaneously raising significant ethical measures [that] are required, avoiding those twin traps of debates about the potential for misuse of powerful and overtreatment and therapeutic nihilism. potentially biased algorithms [7]. Social media platforms have Reflect the Intrinsic Use of Digital Technology in the become a digital town hall for all manner of health care Practice of Medicine information exchange, further democratizing access to information historically under the sole purview of physicians. Considering the massive advances in technology, coupled with the reality that technology now plays an everyday role in the In short, the cultural transformation enabled by digital health delivery of health care, we believe the Hippocratic Oath should is rapidly changing the practice of medicine from a tradition of reflect the foundational role of digital health in patient care. As physician-driven decisions based on limited, institutionally advances in AI, robotics, virtual reality, mobile health apps, owned data, to shared decision-making based on expansive data wearable biosensors, and portable diagnostic devices continue across platforms, owned and shared by patients, that reflects to expand, we believe the Oath should acknowledge the growing biopsychosocial well-being across broad disease trajectories and permanent impact these technologies now exert on care and illness experiences along a range of geographies, delivery, as follows: demographics, and sociocultural communities. In light of this transformation, we believe it is warranted to modestly update • I will remember that there is an art to medicine as well as the Hippocratic Oath so it optimally reflects 21st century science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding medicine. may outweigh the surgeon’s knife, the chemist’s drug, or the programmer’s algorithm. Proposed Revisions to the Hippocratic Validate the Patient Role in an Equal-Level Oath Partnership With Their Physician The Hippocratic Oath encourages physicians to say, “I know In the context of changes produced by advances in digital health, not” when they are unsure how to treat a patient, and to “call we suggest that the following principles should be reflected in my colleagues when the skills of another are needed for a within a modernized Hippocratic Oath, presented in order of patient’s recovery.” These are laudable sentiments that any the current Oath’s text. https://www.jmir.org/2022/9/e39177 J Med Internet Res 2022 | vol. 24 | iss. 9 | e39177 | p. 2 (page number not for citation purposes) XSL FO RenderX JOURNAL OF MEDICAL INTERNET RESEARCH Meskó & Spiegel clinician should follow. However, the Oath should ideally patients. AI in particular has a vast potential to automate acknowledge that patients, too, can help with diagnosis and processes in health care and potentially overtake certain roles treatment. and responsibilities normally filled by clinicians. Nonetheless, physician must always remain focused on their patients, Although the tradition of medicine reinforces a hierarchical including their personal stories and their biopsychosocial patient-doctor relationship driven by information asymmetry, well-being beyond their digital fingerprints and big data patients now have expansive access to credible information analytics. AI will never replace medical professionals, although about biomedical sciences, increasingly generate their own physicians who embrace AI may eventually replace those who biometric health data through wearable biosensors, and monitor do not. We propose the following additions to the Oath to reflect their own psychometric scores through apps; these data sources these considerations: are now part of clinical practice. • I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous Although physicians have more experience prescribing growth, a data point, or an algorithm’s suggestion, but a treatments and monitoring a wide range of diseases than human being. nonphysician patients, the Oath should recognize that patients are the experts of their personal illness experience. When Conclusions engaged collaboratively by their physicians, patients can deliver meaningful insights that shape diagnostic and care plans. In The Hippocratic Oath remains an important pledge that modern light of this paradigm shift that has accelerated in the era of physicians should continue to honor. The Oath outlines digital health, we suggest the following italicized additions to principles that remain relevant in the 21st century. However, the Oath: advances in digital health science and technology have catalyzed a cultural revolution in the delivery of health care. • I will treat my patients in an equal-level partnership, and I will not be ashamed to say ‘I know not,’ nor will I fail to We believe that it is now justified to modify the Hippocratic call in my colleagues when the skills of another are needed Oath—even if modestly—to reflect the digital health revolution, for a patient’s recovery. advances in patient empowerment, and the evolving role of technology in the everyday practice of medicine. Address Data Privacy Respecting patients’ privacy is a primary passage in the Oath. We offer these modest suggestions to help prompt discussion However, the concept of privacy now extends beyond and contemplation about the current Oath and its relevancy to safekeeping conversations to guarding the “big data” generated our changing times. Our suggestions are not meant to be a in the care of every patient in modern health care. We suggest definitive set of final recommendations. Rather, we propose the following addition: new text that bodies such as the World Medical Association might consider integrating into an updated Oath, just as previous • I will respect the privacy of my patients and their data, for changes were adopted to ensure the Oath remains relevant and their problems are not disclosed to me that the world may impactful for all physicians and their patients (Multimedia know. Appendix 1). Emphasize the Primacy of Treating Patients, Not Their Data The explosion in big data surrounding health care is transforming how doctors care for and interact with their Conflicts of Interest None declared. Multimedia Appendix 1 Revised Hippocratic Oath. [DOCX File , 14 KB-Multimedia Appendix 1] References 1. Miles SH. The Hippocratic Oath and the Ethics of Medicine. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2005. 2. Gakis D. The Hippocratic Oath today. MOJS 2016 May 31;3(2):35. [doi: 10.15406/mojs.2016.03.00039] 3. Frellick M. Youngest, Oldest Physicians Diverge on Hippocratic Oath. Medscape. 2017. URL: https://www.medscape.com/ viewarticle/880688 [accessed 2022-08-24] 4. Parsa-Parsi RW. The Revised Declaration of Geneva: A Modern-Day Physician's Pledge. JAMA 2017 Nov 28;318(20):1971-1972. [doi: 10.1001/jama.2017.16230] [Medline: 29049507] 5. Meskó B, Drobni Z, Bényei É, Gergely B, Győrffy Z. Digital health is a cultural transformation of traditional healthcare. Mhealth 2017;3:38 [FREE Full text] [doi: 10.21037/mhealth.2017.08.07] [Medline: 29184890] 6. Spiegel B. VRx: How Virtual Therapeutics Will Revolutionize Medicine. New York: Basic Books; 2020. https://www.jmir.org/2022/9/e39177 J Med Internet Res 2022 | vol. 24 | iss. 9 | e39177 | p. 3 (page number not for citation purposes) XSL FO RenderX JOURNAL OF MEDICAL INTERNET RESEARCH Meskó & Spiegel 7. Topol E. Deep Medicine: How Artificial Intelligence Can Make Healthcare Human Again. New York: Basic Books; 2019. 8. Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute. URL: https://www.pcori.org/ [accessed 2022-08-24] Abbreviations AI: artificial intelligence Edited by T Leung, G Eysenbach; submitted 02.05.22; peer-reviewed by C Nebecker, R Hendricks-Sturrup, R Rastmanesh, J Kaswija; comments to author 01.06.22; revised version received 28.07.22; accepted 19.08.22; published 07.09.22 Please cite as: Meskó B, Spiegel B J Med Internet Res 2022;24(9):e39177 URL: https://www.jmir.org/2022/9/e39177 doi: 10.2196/39177 PMID: 36069845 ©Bertalan Meskó, Brennan Spiegel. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (https://www.jmir.org), 07.09.2022. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, is properly cited. The complete bibliographic information, a link to the original publication on https://www.jmir.org/, as well as this copyright and license information must be included. https://www.jmir.org/2022/9/e39177 J Med Internet Res 2022 | vol. 24 | iss. 9 | e39177 | p. 4 (page number not for citation purposes) XSL FO RenderX http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of Medical Internet Research JMIR Publications

A Revised Hippocratic Oath for the Era of Digital Health

Loading next page...
 
/lp/jmir-publications/a-revised-hippocratic-oath-for-the-era-of-digital-health-RO0C08mCIc

References (4)

Publisher
JMIR Publications
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s). Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution cc-by 4.0
ISSN
1438-8871
DOI
10.2196/39177
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Physicians have been taking the Hippocratic Oath for centuries. The Oath contains a set of ethical rules designed to guide physicians through their profession; it articulates a set of true north principles that govern the practice of medicine. The Hippocratic Oath has undergone several revisions, most notably in 1948 by the World Medical Association. However, in an era of rapid change in medicine, we believe it is time to update the Oath with modest but meaningful additions so that it optimally reflects 21st century health care. The rise of digital health has dramatically changed the practice of medicine in a way that could not have been easily predicted at the time Hippocrates outlined his ethical principles of medicine. Digital health is a broad term that encompasses use of digital devices and platforms, including electronic health records, patient-provider portals, mobile health apps, wearable biosensors, artificial intelligence, social media platforms, and medical extended reality, to improve the process and outcomes of health care delivery. These technologies have driven a cultural transformation in the delivery of care. We offer modest suggestions to help prompt discussion and contemplation about the current Oath and its relevancy to our changing times. Our suggestions are not meant to be a definitive set of final recommendations. Rather, we propose new text that bodies such as the World Medical Association might consider integrating into an updated Oath, just as previous changes were adopted to ensure the Oath remains relevant and impactful for all physicians and their patients. (J Med Internet Res 2022;24(9):e39177) doi: 10.2196/39177 KEYWORDS hippocratic oath; digital health; eHealth; future; automation; ethics; viewpoint; medical perspective; physician perspective; ethical; digital divide; artificial intelligence; moral studies that have formally evaluated sentiment about the Oath. A Brief History of the Hippocratic Oath In a non–peer-reviewed survey conducted in 2016, Medscape reported opinions about the modern relevance of Hippocrates’ Physicians have been taking the Hippocratic Oath for centuries pledge [3]. Nearly 3000 physicians and medical students [1]. The Oath contains a set of ethical rules designed to guide responded. Reactions were markedly different, particularly when physicians through their profession; it articulates a set of true stratified by age. Of those under age 34 years, only 39% said north principles that govern the practice of medicine. the Oath was still meaningful, whereas 70% of respondents Although there are no explicit penalties enforced upon aged 65 years and older positively endorsed the pledge. Despite physicians who break the Oath, adherence with its principles these varying views about the Oath, coupled with limited remains a time-honored tradition by practicing clinicians. The peer-reviewed data on this topic, most medical schools still ask original Hippocratic Oath describes ideals that are timely and their students to recite either the classic or modified form of the relevant even in the 21st century: to treat patients to the best of Oath. one’s ability; to preserve a patient’s privacy; and to faithfully The Hippocratic Oath has undergone several revisions, most teach the art of medicine to the next generation [2]. notably in 1948 by the World Medical Association; this version Most physicians believe the Oath still has relevance today, is called the Declaration of Geneva [4]. Changes included although viewpoints remain varied and there are few empirical removing lines such as “My colleagues will be my sisters and https://www.jmir.org/2022/9/e39177 J Med Internet Res 2022 | vol. 24 | iss. 9 | e39177 | p. 1 (page number not for citation purposes) XSL FO RenderX JOURNAL OF MEDICAL INTERNET RESEARCH Meskó & Spiegel brothers” and added lines such as “I will respect the autonomy Recognize a Broader Origin of Scientific Gains in and dignity of my patient.” However, in an era of rapid change Medicine in medicine, we believe it is time to update the Oath with modest The Hippocratic Oath entreats physicians to “respect the but meaningful additions so that it optimally reflects 21st century hard-won scientific gains of those physicians on whose steps I health care. walk.” This statement suggests that research is conducted by physicians only, when in fact medical advances originate from Why a Revised Hippocratic Oath Is many stakeholders beyond physicians. In the era of digital health Warranted in the Era of Digital Health and democratized care, research arises not only from physicians and nonclinical researchers, but also from patients who both The rise of digital health has dramatically changed the practice contribute their own data and meaningfully participate in of medicine in a way that could not have been easily predicted research through patient-centered models such as those at the time Hippocrates outlined his ethical principles of supported by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute medicine. Digital health is a broad term that encompasses use [8]. We suggest the following edits, shown in italics: of digital devices and platforms, including electronic health • I will respect the hard-won scientific gains of those records, patient-provider portals, mobile health apps, wearable physicians, researchers, and patients in whose steps I walk, biosensors, artificial intelligence (AI), social media platforms, and gladly share such knowledge as is mine with those who and medical extended reality, to improve the process and are to follow. outcomes of health care delivery. These technologies have driven a cultural transformation in the delivery of care [5]. Acknowledge Both “Sick Care” and Preventive “Health Care” Remote patient monitoring, for example, affords patients and doctors a more complete and accurate picture of disease The Oath focuses on treating the sick but is silent on the role progression outside the walls of a hospital, clinic, or research of preventive medicine for the well, yet modern medicine center. The data from mobile technologies can now be shared emphasizes the importance of preventive care across physical, between patient and provider, allowing greater collaboration, mental, and social realms of health, not just reactive “sick care” stronger therapeutic partnerships, enhanced shared for the ill. Advances in digital health place an emphasis on decision-making, and an increasing shift to preventive and predictive analytics using remotely collected data, and precision proactive care in lieu of reactive care. medicine aims to identify early signs of disease to inform timely preventive care. Given these forces that are shifting medical Extended reality technologies, such as virtual reality and delivery from reactive “sick care” to preventive “health care,” augmented reality, provide opportunities to go beyond the we propose the following simple addition to the Oath, shown traditional exam room and introduce new ways of blending in italics: behavioral and psychosocial care with traditional biomedical care [6]. AI is massively expanding our ability to diagnose and I will apply, for the benefit of the healthy and the sick, all treat patients, but simultaneously raising significant ethical measures [that] are required, avoiding those twin traps of debates about the potential for misuse of powerful and overtreatment and therapeutic nihilism. potentially biased algorithms [7]. Social media platforms have Reflect the Intrinsic Use of Digital Technology in the become a digital town hall for all manner of health care Practice of Medicine information exchange, further democratizing access to information historically under the sole purview of physicians. Considering the massive advances in technology, coupled with the reality that technology now plays an everyday role in the In short, the cultural transformation enabled by digital health delivery of health care, we believe the Hippocratic Oath should is rapidly changing the practice of medicine from a tradition of reflect the foundational role of digital health in patient care. As physician-driven decisions based on limited, institutionally advances in AI, robotics, virtual reality, mobile health apps, owned data, to shared decision-making based on expansive data wearable biosensors, and portable diagnostic devices continue across platforms, owned and shared by patients, that reflects to expand, we believe the Oath should acknowledge the growing biopsychosocial well-being across broad disease trajectories and permanent impact these technologies now exert on care and illness experiences along a range of geographies, delivery, as follows: demographics, and sociocultural communities. In light of this transformation, we believe it is warranted to modestly update • I will remember that there is an art to medicine as well as the Hippocratic Oath so it optimally reflects 21st century science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding medicine. may outweigh the surgeon’s knife, the chemist’s drug, or the programmer’s algorithm. Proposed Revisions to the Hippocratic Validate the Patient Role in an Equal-Level Oath Partnership With Their Physician The Hippocratic Oath encourages physicians to say, “I know In the context of changes produced by advances in digital health, not” when they are unsure how to treat a patient, and to “call we suggest that the following principles should be reflected in my colleagues when the skills of another are needed for a within a modernized Hippocratic Oath, presented in order of patient’s recovery.” These are laudable sentiments that any the current Oath’s text. https://www.jmir.org/2022/9/e39177 J Med Internet Res 2022 | vol. 24 | iss. 9 | e39177 | p. 2 (page number not for citation purposes) XSL FO RenderX JOURNAL OF MEDICAL INTERNET RESEARCH Meskó & Spiegel clinician should follow. However, the Oath should ideally patients. AI in particular has a vast potential to automate acknowledge that patients, too, can help with diagnosis and processes in health care and potentially overtake certain roles treatment. and responsibilities normally filled by clinicians. Nonetheless, physician must always remain focused on their patients, Although the tradition of medicine reinforces a hierarchical including their personal stories and their biopsychosocial patient-doctor relationship driven by information asymmetry, well-being beyond their digital fingerprints and big data patients now have expansive access to credible information analytics. AI will never replace medical professionals, although about biomedical sciences, increasingly generate their own physicians who embrace AI may eventually replace those who biometric health data through wearable biosensors, and monitor do not. We propose the following additions to the Oath to reflect their own psychometric scores through apps; these data sources these considerations: are now part of clinical practice. • I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous Although physicians have more experience prescribing growth, a data point, or an algorithm’s suggestion, but a treatments and monitoring a wide range of diseases than human being. nonphysician patients, the Oath should recognize that patients are the experts of their personal illness experience. When Conclusions engaged collaboratively by their physicians, patients can deliver meaningful insights that shape diagnostic and care plans. In The Hippocratic Oath remains an important pledge that modern light of this paradigm shift that has accelerated in the era of physicians should continue to honor. The Oath outlines digital health, we suggest the following italicized additions to principles that remain relevant in the 21st century. However, the Oath: advances in digital health science and technology have catalyzed a cultural revolution in the delivery of health care. • I will treat my patients in an equal-level partnership, and I will not be ashamed to say ‘I know not,’ nor will I fail to We believe that it is now justified to modify the Hippocratic call in my colleagues when the skills of another are needed Oath—even if modestly—to reflect the digital health revolution, for a patient’s recovery. advances in patient empowerment, and the evolving role of technology in the everyday practice of medicine. Address Data Privacy Respecting patients’ privacy is a primary passage in the Oath. We offer these modest suggestions to help prompt discussion However, the concept of privacy now extends beyond and contemplation about the current Oath and its relevancy to safekeeping conversations to guarding the “big data” generated our changing times. Our suggestions are not meant to be a in the care of every patient in modern health care. We suggest definitive set of final recommendations. Rather, we propose the following addition: new text that bodies such as the World Medical Association might consider integrating into an updated Oath, just as previous • I will respect the privacy of my patients and their data, for changes were adopted to ensure the Oath remains relevant and their problems are not disclosed to me that the world may impactful for all physicians and their patients (Multimedia know. Appendix 1). Emphasize the Primacy of Treating Patients, Not Their Data The explosion in big data surrounding health care is transforming how doctors care for and interact with their Conflicts of Interest None declared. Multimedia Appendix 1 Revised Hippocratic Oath. [DOCX File , 14 KB-Multimedia Appendix 1] References 1. Miles SH. The Hippocratic Oath and the Ethics of Medicine. Oxford: Oxford University Press; 2005. 2. Gakis D. The Hippocratic Oath today. MOJS 2016 May 31;3(2):35. [doi: 10.15406/mojs.2016.03.00039] 3. Frellick M. Youngest, Oldest Physicians Diverge on Hippocratic Oath. Medscape. 2017. URL: https://www.medscape.com/ viewarticle/880688 [accessed 2022-08-24] 4. Parsa-Parsi RW. The Revised Declaration of Geneva: A Modern-Day Physician's Pledge. JAMA 2017 Nov 28;318(20):1971-1972. [doi: 10.1001/jama.2017.16230] [Medline: 29049507] 5. Meskó B, Drobni Z, Bényei É, Gergely B, Győrffy Z. Digital health is a cultural transformation of traditional healthcare. Mhealth 2017;3:38 [FREE Full text] [doi: 10.21037/mhealth.2017.08.07] [Medline: 29184890] 6. Spiegel B. VRx: How Virtual Therapeutics Will Revolutionize Medicine. New York: Basic Books; 2020. https://www.jmir.org/2022/9/e39177 J Med Internet Res 2022 | vol. 24 | iss. 9 | e39177 | p. 3 (page number not for citation purposes) XSL FO RenderX JOURNAL OF MEDICAL INTERNET RESEARCH Meskó & Spiegel 7. Topol E. Deep Medicine: How Artificial Intelligence Can Make Healthcare Human Again. New York: Basic Books; 2019. 8. Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute. URL: https://www.pcori.org/ [accessed 2022-08-24] Abbreviations AI: artificial intelligence Edited by T Leung, G Eysenbach; submitted 02.05.22; peer-reviewed by C Nebecker, R Hendricks-Sturrup, R Rastmanesh, J Kaswija; comments to author 01.06.22; revised version received 28.07.22; accepted 19.08.22; published 07.09.22 Please cite as: Meskó B, Spiegel B J Med Internet Res 2022;24(9):e39177 URL: https://www.jmir.org/2022/9/e39177 doi: 10.2196/39177 PMID: 36069845 ©Bertalan Meskó, Brennan Spiegel. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (https://www.jmir.org), 07.09.2022. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, is properly cited. The complete bibliographic information, a link to the original publication on https://www.jmir.org/, as well as this copyright and license information must be included. https://www.jmir.org/2022/9/e39177 J Med Internet Res 2022 | vol. 24 | iss. 9 | e39177 | p. 4 (page number not for citation purposes) XSL FO RenderX

Journal

Journal of Medical Internet ResearchJMIR Publications

Published: Sep 7, 2022

Keywords: hippocratic oath; digital health; eHealth; future; automation; ethics; viewpoint; medical perspective; physician perspective; ethical; digital divide; artificial intelligence; moral

There are no references for this article.