Big Data and Ethics: The Medical Datasphere

Faced with the exponential development of Big Data and both its legal and economic repercussions, we are still slightly in the dark concerning the use of digital information. In the perpetual balance between confidentiality and transparency, this data will lead us to call into question how we understand certain paradigms, such as the Hippocratic Oath in medicine. As a consequence, a reflection on the study of the risks associated with the ethical issues surrounding the design and manipulation of this “massive data” seems to be essential.This book provides a direction and ethical value to these significant volumes of data. It proposes an ethical analysis model and recommendations to better keep this data in check. This empirical and ethico-technical approach brings together the first aspects of a moral framework directed toward thought, conscience and the responsibility of citizens concerned by the use of data of a personal nature.

• Defines Big Data applications in health
• Presents the ethical value of the medical datasphere via the description of a model of an ethical analysis of Big Data
• Provides the recommendations and steps necessary for successful management and governance of personal health data
• Helps readers determine what conditions are essential for the development of the study of Big Data

Jérôme Béranger is a senior consultant and associate researcher for Keosys. His research focuses on ethics and the sociology of information systems intended for e-health, m-health and Big Data.