Background: Virtual Reality (VR) was defined as a collection of technological devices: "a computer capable of interactive 3D visualization, a head-mounted display and data gloves equipped with one or more position trackers". Today, lots of scientists define VR as a simulation of the real world based on computer graphics, a three dimensional world in which communities of real people interact, create content, items and services, producing real economic value through e-Commerce.

"HTA is a multidisciplinary process that summarizes information about the medical, social, economic and ethical issues related to the use of a health technology in a systematic, transparent, unbiased, robust manner. Its aim is to inform the formulation of safe, effective, health policies that are patient focused, and seek to achieve best value" (EUnetHTA 2007). Even though the assessment of ethical aspects of a health technology is listed as one of the objectives of a HTA process, in practice, the integration of these dimensions into reports remains limited. The article is focused on four points: 1. the HTA concept; 2. the difficult HTA-ethics relationship; 3. the ethical issues in HTA; 4. the methods for integrating ethical analysis into HTA.

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