BackgroundTrust within organizations is important for ensuring members’ acceptance of the organization’s activities and to expand their scope of action. Remarkably, Patient Organizations (POs) that often both function as a forum for self-help and represent patients on the health-political level, have been understudied in this respect. This paper analyzes the relation between trust and representation in POs. We distinguish between two models of representation originating from political theory: the trustee and delegate model and between two types of trust: horizontal and vertical trust.MethodsOur theoretical approach is illustrated with an analysis of 13 interviews with representatives of German POs.ResultsWe have found that the delegate model requires horizontal trust and the trustee model vertical trust. Both models: horizontal/delegate and vertical/trustee exist within single POs.ConclusionsThe representation process within POs demands a balancing act between inclusion of affected persons and strategically aggregating a clear-cut political claim. Trust plays in that process of coming from individual wishes to collective and political standpoints a major role both in terms of horizontal as well as vertical trust. Horizontal trust serves the communication between affected members, and vertical trust allows representatives to be decisive.
Artificial intelligence is steadily being integrated into all areas of medicine. In reproductive medicine, artificial intelligence methods can be utilized to improve the selection and
prediction of sperm cells, oocytes, and embryos and to generate better predictive models for in vitro fertilization. The use of artificial intelligence in this field is justified by the
suffering of persons or couples who wish to have children but are unable to conceive. However, research into the use of artificial intelligence in reproductive medicine is still in the early
experimental stage and furthermore raises complex normative questions. There are ethical research challenges because evidence of the efficacy of certain pertinent systems is often lacking
and because of the increased difficulty of ensuring informed consent on the part of the affected persons. Other ethically relevant issues include the potential risks for offspring and the
difficulty of providing sufficient information. The opportunity to fulfill the desire to have children affects the welfare of patients and their reproductive autonomy. Ultimately, ensuring
more accurate predictions and allowing physicians to devote more time to their patients will have a positive effect. Nevertheless, clinicians must be able to process patient data
conscientiously. When using artificial intelligence, numerous actors are involved in making the diagnosis and deciding on the appropriate therapy, raising questions about who is ultimately
responsible when mistakes occur. Questions of fairness arise with regard to resource allocation and cost reimbursement. Thus, before implementing artificial intelligence in clinical
practice, it is necessary to critically examine the quantity and quality of the data used and to address issues of transparency. In the medium and long term, it would be necessary to
confront the undesirable impact and social dynamics that may accompany the use of artificial intelligence in reproductive medicine.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.