A design-based approach to ethical analysis examines how computer scientists, physicians and patients make and justify choices in designing, using and reacting to computer-aided diagnosis (CADx) systems. The basic hypothesis of this research is that values are embedded in CADx systems during all phases of their development, not just retrospectively imposed on them. This paper concentrates on the work of computer scientists and physicians as they attempt to resolve central technical questions in designing clinically functional CADx systems for lung cancer and breast cancer diagnosis. The work of Lo, Chan, Freedman, Lin, Wu and their colleagues provides the initial data on which this study is based. As these researchers seek to increase the rate of true positive classifications of detected abnormalities in chest radiographs and mammograms, they explore dimensions of the fundamental ethical principal of beneficence. The training of CADx systems demonstrates the key ethical dilemmas inherent in their current design.

Date Published: 15 April 1996
PDF: 8 pages
Proc. SPIE 2707, Medical Imaging 1996: Image Display, (15 April 1996); doi: 10.1117/12.238492

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 2707:
Medical Imaging 1996: Image Display
Yongmin Kim, Editor(s)