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141Artificial Intelligence, Social Media and Depression. A New Concept of Health-Related Digital AutonomyAmerican Journal of Bioethics 21 (7): 4-20. 2021.The development of artificial intelligence (AI) in medicine raises fundamental ethical issues. As one example, AI systems in the field of mental health successfully detect signs of mental disorders, such as depression, by using data from social media. These AI depression detectors (AIDDs) identify users who are at risk of depression prior to any contact with the healthcare system. The article focuses on the ethical implications of AIDDs regarding affected users’ health-related autonomy. Firstly,…Read more
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27Ethics of sleep tracking: techno-ethical particularities of consumer-led sleep-tracking with a focus on medicalization, vulnerability, and relationalityEthics and Information Technology 25 (1): 1-12. 2023.Consumer-targeted sleep tracking applications (STA) that run on mobile devices (e.g., smartphones) promise to be useful tools for the individual user. Assisted by built-in and/or external sensors, these apps can analyze sleep data and generate assessment reports for the user on their sleep duration and quality. However, STA also raise ethical questions, for example, on the autonomy of the sleeping person, or potential effects on third parties. Nevertheless, a specific ethical analysis of the use…Read more
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21Feministische Perspektiven in der deutschsprachigen Medizinethik: eine Bestandsaufnahme und drei ThesenEthik in der Medizin 34 (4): 669-686. 2022.Zusammenfassung Im internationalen Diskurs sind feministische Perspektiven auf die Medizinethik bereits etabliert. Demgegenüber scheinen diese bislang nur vereinzelt in den deutschsprachigen medizinethischen Diskurs eingebracht zu werden. In diesem Artikel untersuchen wir, welche feministischen Perspektiven im deutschsprachigen medizinethischen Diskurs vertreten sind, und schlagen weitere Ansätze für eine feministische Medizinethik vor. Zu diesem Zweck zeichnen wir mittels einer systematisierten…Read more
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18“That’s just Future Medicine” - a qualitative study on users’ experiences of symptom checker appsBMC Medical Ethics 25 (1): 1-19. 2024.Background Symptom checker apps (SCAs) are mobile or online applications for lay people that usually have two main functions: symptom analysis and recommendations. SCAs ask users questions about their symptoms via a chatbot, give a list with possible causes, and provide a recommendation, such as seeing a physician. However, it is unclear whether the actual performance of a SCA corresponds to the users’ experiences. This qualitative study investigates the subjective perspectives of SCA users to c…Read more
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15Interdisziplinärer wissenschaftlicher Workshop zur „Begutachtungspraxis empirisch-ethischer Forschung in Ethikkommissionen“: Greifswald, 29.–30. November 2018Ethik in der Medizin 31 (2): 193-196. 2019.
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15'You have to put a lot of trust in me': autonomy, trust, and trustworthiness in the context of mobile apps for mental healthMedicine, Health Care and Philosophy 26 (3): 313-324. 2023.Trust and trustworthiness are essential for good healthcare, especially in mental healthcare. New technologies, such as mobile health apps, can affect trust relationships. In mental health, some apps need the trust of their users for therapeutic efficacy and explicitly ask for it, for example, through an avatar. Suppose an artificial character in an app delivers healthcare. In that case, the following questions arise: Whom does the user direct their trust to? Whether and when can an avatar be co…Read more
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15Ethical, legal, and social aspects of symptom checker applications: a scoping reviewMedicine, Health Care and Philosophy 25 (4): 737-755. 2022.Symptom Checker Applications (SCA) are mobile applications often designed for the end-user to assist with symptom assessment and self-triage. SCA are meant to provide the user with easily accessible information about their own health conditions. However, SCA raise questions regarding ethical, legal, and social aspects (ELSA), for example, regarding fair access to this new technology. The aim of this scoping review is to identify the ELSA of SCA in the scientific literature. A scoping review was …Read more
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15Feminist perspectives in German-language medical ethics: a review and three hypothesesEthik in der Medizin 34 (4): 669-686. 2022.Definition of the problemFeminist approaches to medical ethics are well established in international discourses. By contrast, in the German-speaking medical ethical discourse, they still seem to be rather marginal. In this article, we analyze which feminist perspectives are prominent in German medical ethics and suggest new approaches.ArgumentsWe present our results from a systematized review of the literature, in which we identify existing feminist approaches within the German-speaking medical …Read more
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13Health-Related Digital Autonomy. A Response to the CommentariesAmerican Journal of Bioethics 21 (10). 2021.The COVID-19 pandemic has been a threat to both physical and mental health. The spreading disease and its impacts, the containment measures and the way all of our lives have dramatically changed ha...
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13Collective forward-looking responsibility of patient advocacy organizations: conceptual and ethical analysisBMC Medical Ethics 22 (1): 1-11. 2021.BackgroundPatient advocacy organizations (PAOs) have an increasing influence on health policy and biomedical research, therefore, questions about the specific character of their responsibility arise: Can PAOs bear moral responsibility and, if so, to whom are they responsible, for what and on which normative basis? Although the concept of responsibility in healthcare is strongly discussed, PAOs particularly have rarely been systematically analyzed as morally responsible agents. The aim of the cur…Read more
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12Assessing AI Assessing Humans. Expert:innen-Workshop über den Einsatz künstlicher Intelligenz bei der Beurteilung der Einwilligungsfähigkeit von Patient:innen – SMART Workshop: Online, 29.–30. März 2021 (review)Ethik in der Medizin 33 (2): 301-305. 2021.
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10Identifying the scope of ethical challenges caused by the Ebola epidemic 2014-2016 in West Africa: a qualitative studyPhilosophy, Ethics and Humanities in Medicine 17 (1): 1-11. 2022.BackgroundThe West African Ebola virus epidemic from 2014 to 2016 is unprecedented in its scale, surpassing all previous and subsequent Ebola outbreaks since 1976. This epidemic provoked a humanitarian emergency that extended to different spheres of life, making visible ethical challenges in addition to medical, economic, and social ones. The present article aims to identify and differentiate the scope of ethical issues associated with the Ebola epidemic.MethodsAn online media analysis was perfo…Read more
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8Detecting your depression with your smartphone? – An ethical analysis of epistemic injustice in passive self-tracking appsEthics and Information Technology 26 (2): 1-14. 2024.Smartphone apps might offer a low-threshold approach to the detection of mental health conditions, such as depression. Based on the gathering of ‘passive data,’ some apps generate a user’s ‘digital phenotype,’ compare it to those of users with clinically confirmed depression and issue a warning if a depressive episode is likely. These apps can, thus, serve as epistemic tools for affected users. From an ethical perspective, it is crucial to consider epistemic injustice to promote socially respons…Read more
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2Lived Experience of Hereditary Chronic Pancreatitis – A Qualitative Interview StudyChronic Illness 18 (4). 2022.
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1Perceptions of genetic testing in patients with hereditary chronic pancreatitis and their families: a qualitative triangulationEuropean Journal of Human Genetics 29. 2021.
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Perceptions of medical futility in clinical practice–a qualitative systematic reviewJournal of Critical Care 48 78-84. 2018.
Regina Müller
Institute of Philosophy, University of Bremen, Germany
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Institute of Philosophy, University of Bremen, GermanyInterim Professor / Post-doctoral Fellow
University of Greifswald
PhD, 2022
Bremen, HB, Germany
Areas of Specialization
Biomedical Ethics |
Medical Ethics |
Feminist Ethics |
Technology Ethics |
Ethics of Artificial Intelligence |