Ethics 4.0: Ethical Dilemmas in Healthcare Mediated by Social Robots

This study examined people's moral judgments and trait perception toward a healthcare agent's response to a patient who refuses to take medication. A sample of 524 participants was randomly assigned to one of eight vignettes in which the type of healthcare agent (human vs. robot), the use of a health message framing (emphasizing health-losses for not taking vs. health-gains in taking the medication), and the ethical decision (respect the autonomy vs. beneficence/nonmaleficence) were manipulated to investigate their effects on moral judgments (acceptance and responsibility) and traits perception (warmth, competence, trustworthiness). The results indicated that moral acceptance was higher when the agents respected the patient's autonomy than when the agents prioritized beneficence/nonmaleficence. Moral responsibility and perceived warmth were higher for the human agent than for the robot, and the agent who respected the patient's autonomy was perceived as warmer, but less competent and trustworthy than the agent who decided for the patient's beneficence/nonmaleficence. Agents who prioritized beneficence/nonmaleficence and framed the health gains were also perceived as more trustworthy. Our findings contribute to the understanding of moral judgments in the healthcare domain mediated by both healthcare humans and artificial agents.

Automated summary

This study investigated people's moral judgments and trait perception regarding a healthcare agent's response to a patient who refuses medication. The study manipulated variables including the type of healthcare agent (human vs. robot), health message framing, and ethical decision to examine their effects on moral judgments and traits perception. The results showed that moral acceptance was higher when the agents respected autonomy, and moral responsibility and perceived warmth were higher for human agents. Agents who prioritized beneficence/nonmaleficence and framed health gains were also perceived as more trustworthy. These findings contribute to understanding moral judgments in healthcare mediated by both human and artificial agents.