Ethics of Biomedical Engineering Technologies for Constructing Healthcare 5.0

Abstract A set of emergent technologies radically transforming health management has led to the novel paradigm of Healthcare 5.0, which heralds healthier societies. However, to avoid an unwanted advent of a healthcare dystopia, and to effectively and equitably deploy the extremely varied Biomedical Engineering 5.0 technologies that enable Healthcare 5.0, ethical excellence is required along their research, development and societal transfer. In this study, technologies from Healthcare 5.0 are introduced and their ethical issues analyzed in depth. To this end, the more fundamental ethical principles and derived virtues of the common morality theory, including: beneficence, nonmaleficence, respect for autonomy, and justice, are considered. After validating the applicability of the common morality theory to Healthcare 5.0 and systematically detecting key ethical issues, as well as related moral conflicts, a set of good practices is proposed toward ethics-guided research, development, innovation and application of Biomedical Engineering 5.0 technologies.