Abstract:
This article is based on another article published in Spanish in the magazine Humanidades Médicas, number 47, February 2010 (pp. 1-15) and also on a lecture that was published in the FORUM MEDIZIN 21"Ärztin / Arzt sein im 21, January 2009.The article analyzes the impact that digital communication and information technology can have on medicine both as a science, and as a practice. The technological changes that lead to a Medicine 2.0 occur on several levels, such as: information overload, the physician-patient relationship, the self-perception of both physician and patient, as well as the concept of the human body and what is understood as sickness and as health. With the purpose of defining a pathology of the information society, an anthropological framework is proposed based on concepts developed by Swiss physician and psychiatrist, Medard Boss, illustrating with a few examples a systematic analysis of said pathology. The article concludes by proposing guidelines for an ethical outline of a Medicine 2.0 as a reference for preventive and therapeutic care in the information society.
Description:
I would like to thank the translators Monica Santana (South Africa) and Dr.
Michael Eldred (Cologne) as well as Oscar Krütli (Córdoba, Argentina) and
José María Díaz Nafría (León, Spain) for their invaluable critique of this text.
