Ethics and HTA: some lessons and challenges for the future

摘要

What have we learned? It there in the contribution to this special theme a clue as to what is the best way of integrating ethical inquiry into health technology assessment (HTA)? Particularly, what is the significance of the social shaping perspective in this respect? In this concluding paper, we attempt to collect the lessons we have learnt and to answer these questions. Of course, our answer will not be the final one. It is difficult to find an appropriate and widely endorsed model of integrating ethical implications in HTA studies, if there is such a single appropriate model at all. But despite reserves, it is equally fair to claim that it is definitely possible to reach beyond what ethical inquiry in HTA too often concerns, namely to conclude that "the technology raises serious ethical concerns that must be dealt with". This is truly a death sentence, for both HTA and medical ethics, just when their integration is called for. In the remainder of this paper, we address three questions.