The Nuffield Council on Bioethics is holding a public consultation on the ethical issues raised by online healthcare, telemedicine and commercial medical profiling technologies such as DNA testing and body imaging. These technologies and services are increasingly focused on the individual, and often mean that the GP is no longer involved in healthcare.

The Council would like to hear the views of a wide range of people, including those using or contemplating using these services, those involved in providing them in the public and private context, researchers, academics, regulators, policy makers and others. Responses to the consultation will be carefully considered, and a report setting out the Council’s findings will be published in spring 2010.

Deadline for responses: 21st July 2009

Find more on: www.nuffieldbioethics.org/go/ourwork/personalisedhealthcare/page_968.html

There is some related media coverage:

The Times
Ethics inquiry to judge challenges of genetic testing

BBC Online News
Fears over web health revolution

Telegraph
Expensive private health MOTs could be doing ‘more harm than good’