Using interviews and participant-observation, this field-based research project will examine the influences of technologies that change medical knowledge on human relationships and on the emerging moral responsibilities of bioengineers. In consultation with an engineer, an historian, and a scholar of law and science policy, the principal investigator, who is a philosopher, will study contemporary developments and effects associated with three technologies: diagnostic X-ray, ultrasound, and computer-aided simulation of orthopedic procedures. The project will try to identify how changes occur in moral standards for responsible work in bioengineering, in order to expand the abilities of engineering students, engineers, and professional societies to identify and establish new and better standards. The historian and the lawyer will prepare papers on the development of professional standards for licensure and on aspects of the law associated with these technologies. In consultation with the engineer, the principal investigator will prepare talks and articles on responsibility in bioengineering design and the use of innovative technologies. She will also prepare case studies on the three technologies. The cases will describe the evolution of the technologies and their influences on human relationships and bioengineering responsibilities. In addition, she will discuss the implications of the study for engineering education with relevant engineering faculty at MIT and in the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology. If appropriate, an additional paper on this topic will be prepared. The PI will also incorporate results from this study in a book she is writing on biomedical technologies, knowledge and responsibility. This project will make a unique contribution to professional and scholarly understanding of the moral implications of technologies that change what we know. It can also contribute to the development of new approaches to teaching engineering ethics, and to better standards for professional practice and for policies affecting that practice. The principal investigator is very well qualified to undertake the research; she has assembled a fine team with which to work. The research design is appropriate and feasible; it incorporates opportunities for discussion, review and adjustment as the project progresses. Costs are reasonable; results are likely to be widely distributed and useful. Support in the amount of $119,018 is recommended, with $70,000 to be awarded now and the remainder at later date.
