Abstract
Health technology assessment (HTA) is often biased in the sense that it neglects relevant perspectives on the technology in question. To incorporate different perspectives in HTA, we should pursue agreement about what are relevant, plausible, and feasible research questions; interactive technology assessment (iTA) might be suitable for this goal. In this way a kind of procedural ethics is established. Currently, ethics too often is focussed on the application of general principles, which leaves a lot of confusion as to what really is the matter in specific cases; in an iTA clashes of values should not be approached by use of such ethics. Instead, casuistry, as a tool used within the framework of iTA, should help to articulate and clarify what is the matter, as to make room for explication and consensus building.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bailar III, J.C. and F. Mosteller: 1992, Medical Uses of Statistics (second edition). Boston, MA: NEJM Books.
Brennan, J.M.: 1977, The Open-texture of Moral Concepts. New York: Barnes and Noble Books.
Commissie Nederlandse Gebarentaal: 1997, Méér dan een gebaar. ‘s-Gravenhage: SDU.
Elster, J.: 1992, Local Justice: How Institutions Allocate Scarce Goods and Necessary Burdens. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Guba, E.G. and Y.S. Lincoln: 1989, Fourth Generation Evaluation. Newbury Park: Sage Publications.
Hare, R.M.: 1996, ‘Foundationalism and coherentism in ethics’, in W. Sinnott-Armstrong and M. Timmons (eds.), Moral Knowledge? New Readings in Moral Epistemology. New York: Oxford University Press.
Harris, J.: 1998, ‘Should we attempt to eradicate disability?’, in E. Morscher, O. Neumaier and P. Simons (eds.), Applied Ethics in a Troubled World. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers, pp. 105–114.
Jonsen, A.R. and S. Toulmin: 1988, The Abuse of Casuistry. California: University of California Press.
Lorentsen, Ø.: 1995, ‘National structures in the delivery of rehabilitation technology services’, Int. J. Technol. Assess. Health Care 10(2), pp. 174–186.
Tellings, A.: 1995, The two Hundred Years’ War in Deaf Education: A Reconstruction of the Methods Controversy. Nijmegen: University of Nijmegen Press.
Van der Wilt, G.J. and R.P.B. Reuzel: 1998, ‘Assessment of health technologies: which issues should be addressed?’, Evaluation 4(3), pp. 351–358.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Reuzel, R.P., van der Wilt, GJ., ten Have, H.A. et al. Reducing normative bias in health technology assessment: Interactive evaluation and casuistry. Med Health Care Philos 2, 255–263 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1009963018813
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1009963018813