Citizens' Council on robotics in geriatric care - participants submit joint declaration to the Federal Ministry of Health
This is the central conclusion of a citizens' council in which 25 Potsdam residents developed ethical guidelines for the responsible use of robotics in elderly care. They have now handed over their jointly drafted declaration with a total of 20 demands to the Federal Ministry of Health, which had funded this special format for democratic participation. It was organized by the Junior Professorship for Medical Ethics at the Brandenburg Faculty of Health Sciences.
Over three weekends in spring, the randomly selected citizens from different population, age and professional groups met to discuss in detail what good care should look like in the future and under what conditions social robotics could be used. They got to know existing robotic systems, heard reports from care practice and the experiences of those affected. They studied documents and publications, interviewed experts from politics and society, from science and practice, and finally drew up a declaration in which they express their common position and make recommendations that reflect the diversity of their positions.
"Solutions from the field of social robotics should only be used if they represent proven added value for both the carer and the person being cared for," states the first of their 20 demands, which also include home care. The Citizens' Assembly sees an urgent need to carry out accompanying scientific studies, e.g. on the psychological effects on those in need of care and on the hoped-for effects of care. The findings should be incorporated into the training and further education of care staff. A digitalization strategy that takes care as a whole into account is indispensable. Citizens also point to unresolved issues relating to data protection, strict liability and, in particular, personal rights. Individual wishes regarding the use of social robotics should be formulated in a legally secure manner, for example in the form of a living will. Equal access for all must also be guaranteed, regardless of financial means. If assistance systems have a positive effect on care provision in the future, supportive robotics should be legally recognized and safeguarded as a benefit of care and health insurance, the declaration states. Last but not least, citizens are calling for quality assurance and standardization for robotic systems, the expansion of infrastructure and uniform technical standards for open interfaces.
When using artificial intelligence and self-learning systems, social robotics must always remain controllable. "All the demands and hopes contained in the declaration are the sole expression of the attitude of the citizens involved. They are to be understood as a mandate to the respective addressees in politics, business, science and society to take these demands into account in their actions, to communicate them and to give them validity," says Potsdam medical ethicist Prof. Dr. Robert Ranisch, who developed the multi-stage format for participation with his team. "We wanted to bring the crucial question of the future of good care into the public eye - science alone must not decide this," adds Dr. Joschka Haltaufderheide, who is deputy head of the project.
The declaration was presented by the citizens to the Federal Ministry of Health on July 15, 2024, which received the position paper with great interest. At the handover, the participants reported on their experiences and were able to explain some of their demands in more detail in a discussion with experts from the ministry. Robert Ranisch and his team will now accompany the document with an ethical guideline on the use of robotics in geriatric care.
The citizens' conference is part of the E-cARE project ("Ethics Guidelines for Socially Assistive Robots in Elderly Care: An Empirical-Participatory Approach") of the Junior Professorship for Medical Ethics with a Focus on Digitalization at the Brandenburg Faculty of Health Sciences, in which the conditions for the responsible use of robotics in elderly care are being researched. The project is funded by the Federal Ministry of Health.
Marc Bubeck, Joschka Haltaufderheide, Ruben Sakowsky and Robert Ranisch (eds.) (2024). Potsdam citizens' declaration on robotics in geriatric care. Faculty of Health Sciences Brandenburg, University of Potsdam. DOI: 10.25932/publishup-64958
The project and the declaration on the Internet:
- https://www.robotik-altenpflege.de/
- https://www.fgw-brandenburg.de/e-care/
- https://zenodo.org/records/12927458
Contact:
Prof. Dr. Robert Ranisch,
Junior Professorship of Medical Ethics with a focus on digitalization
Phone: 0331 977-213841, e-mail: ranisch@uni-potsdam.de
Media contact:
Antje Horn-Conrad
University of Potsdam, Press and Public Relations Department
Phone: +49 331 977-1665; e-mail: presse@uni-potsdam.de
The Faculty of Health Sciences
was founded in 2018 as a joint faculty of the University of Potsdam, the Brandenburg Medical School Theodor Fontane and the Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg. It forms the core of the Brandenburg Health Campus. The aim is to develop new medical, nursing and medical technology care services as well as innovative study programmes. In cooperation with other universities and research institutions, the faculty aims to contribute to improving medical care in the state of Brandenburg.
