ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on health technology assessment (HTA) Health care is a moral endeavor, and the vast potential of technology poses complex moral challenges. Health technology is a way to improve the life of human individuals. Health technology is a means that is intended to promote a moral good, for example, absence of pain, improved health status, that is, “the good life”. Assessing the risks and benefits of health interventions presupposes evaluations of what is morally good. HTA originates from normative worries over the unrestrained implementation of new technologies into healthcare practice. The analysis reveals that the arguments for ethics’ place in HTA vary in quality and are contextual. It depends on the aim of HTA: whether the aim is assessment, as basis for decision, or whether it is appraisal, guidelines, or regulation. Technology enhances the moral challenges in health care, and assessing technology without addressing moral issues appears to miss important aspects of technology in health care.
