Medical implants

This briefing note highlights the ethical issues raised by the use of medical implants – such as hip implants, pacemakers and glucose monitors – and the challenges faced by regulatory bodies, manufacturers, and healthcare professionals working in this area. These challenges include ensuring effective post-market surveillance of implants to monitor their safety and efficacy, and preparing for data and cybersecurity risks associated with connected implants.

Overview

• Medical implants can be used to treat or monitor health conditions, or to restore body function.
• High-profile cases involving failing implants causing harm to patients have triggered a review of regulation to strengthen evidence and safety requirements for implants.
• Ethical issues arise in relation to equitable patient access to implants, the responsibilities of healthcare professionals in offering and monitoring medical implants, uncertainty about the long-term effects of implants and the problems this can pose for decision making, and liability when something goes wrong.
• Increasingly, implants are network-enabled, which expands possibilities for data gathering, monitoring, and analysis. This also might make implants more vulnerable to error and attack.
• Challenges for policy-makers include ensuring effective post-market surveillance of implants, promoting innovation that addresses patient need, and preparing for data and cybersecurity risks associated with connected implants.

Read the briefing note.

Project team