Development of a digital risk-prediction tool based on family health history for the general population: legal and ethical implications.

Cardiovascular diseases, both inherited and familial, indicate a risk of early and preventable cardiovascular events for relatives of affected individuals. A digital risk-prediction tool that enables general population individuals to evaluate their cardiovascular risk based on family health history could be a responsible approach to facilitate early detection and improve public health, but development and use of such a tool is not without legal and ethical requirements. At the start of tool development, experts addressed potential legal and ethical implications.

Ethics of Wearable-Based Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest Detection.

Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest is a major health problem, and immediate treatment is essential for improving the chances of survival. The development of technological solutions to detect out-of-hospital cardiac arrest and alert emergency responders is gaining momentum; multiple research consortia are currently developing wearable technology for this purpose. For the responsible design and implementation of this technology, it is necessary to attend to the ethical implications.

The Compatibility of Mandatory Vaccination with the European Convention on Human Rights: Implications for a National Vaccination Policy.

This contribution examines the compatibility of mandatory vaccination with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) through an analysis of the relevant ECHR rights and related case law of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). By focusing on Article 8 (Right to Private Life), Article 2 (Right to Life) and Article 9 (Freedom of Thought, Conscience and Religion) ECHR, we formulate conditions under which mandatory vaccination legislation is justified. With that, this analysis aims to provide national legislators with guidance on responsible legislative policy.

Duty to recontact in genomic cancer care: A tool helping to assess the professional's responsibility.

Tumour DNA and germline testing, based on DNA-wide sequencing analysis, are becoming more and more routine in clinical-oncology practice. A promising step in medicine, but at the same time leading to challenging ethicolegal questions. An important one is under what conditions individuals (patients and their relatives, research participants) should be recontacted with new information, even if many years have passed since the last contact.

Towards trust-based governance of health data research.

Developments in medical big data analytics may bring societal benefits but are also challenging privacy and other ethical values. At the same time, an overly restrictive data protection regime can form a serious threat to valuable observational studies. Discussions about whether data privacy or data solidarity should be the foundational value of research policies, have remained unresolved.