Ethics of monitoring
Fri, Oct 16, 2026 · Week 8 · Principles of Biomedical Technology (Principles of Biomedical Science)
Today's goal: Debate whether wearables and continuous monitoring help or harm patients, and defend your view.
This is a model of the work you should turn in today. Use it to check your own: match the structure and the level of detail, do not copy it. Your data and wording should be your own.
Parallel case, not the question on your sheet: a pharmacy app that texts refill reminders naming the medication.
Claim: The app helps patients more than it harms them, but only if the patient chooses what the text may say and who else can see the phone.
Evidence: Reminder texts raise the share of prescriptions picked up on time, which matters for drugs that stop working when doses are missed. A text that names the medication can also reveal a diagnosis to anyone who reads the screen, which is a disclosure the patient never agreed to.
Reasoning: The deciding factor is informed consent: the patient should be told what the text will contain and be able to choose a reminder that does not name the drug. With that choice, the benefit of doses taken on time outweighs the privacy cost; without it, the app makes a disclosure decision that belongs to the patient. A limitation is that a reminder is only a nudge, so the app cannot tell whether a dose was actually taken.
This model shows the level of evidence and organization needed to complete: A short written argument on a parallel case, a pharmacy app that texts refill reminders naming the medication, taking a side on whether the convenience is worth the privacy cost, with the reasoning grounded in informed consent and data privacy. It is not the remote-monitoring question on your sheet.
- Write one defensible claim.
- Choose specific evidence that supports the claim.
- Explain the scientific rule that connects the evidence to the claim.
Keep the structure. Replace the question, facts, measurements, and evidence. Then recheck units, vocabulary, and whether the conclusion goes beyond the evidence.
Also due today: Submit the diagram and the CER as one PDF to Schoology assignment for this lesson in Schoology.
Turn in: Your glucose feedback-loop diagram, annotated for type 1 diabetes, plus one CER (3-5 sentences) answering the sheet's question: should a clinic recommend continuous remote monitoring, and what has to be true for that recommendation to be responsible? Name patient autonomy in your reasoning.
Go to Schoology to turn this in.
Submit one PDF. Schoology attaches your name to your upload; on the page itself, write your period and code. Name the file: FirstName LastName - Assignment Title - YYYY-MM-DD.pdf.
Open Schoology PDF upload helpIf you cannot get in, see Mr. Mendoza. Do not skip the work.
Claim ceiling: Today's evidence supports a classroom claim about ethics of monitoring. It cannot prove causation, diagnose a real patient, or justify action outside this room.
One exam-style question that uses exactly what you practiced today. Try it before you reveal the answer, then read why each choice is right or wrong.
Tap an answer to see the full explanation. Nothing is recorded or graded.
It builds this reusable test skill: Defining patient autonomy and the data limits of wearables.
- Name the concept or data pattern being tested.
- Cross out choices that violate that rule or the evidence.
- Justify the best remaining choice before checking the answer.