Ethics of bioprinting is a sub-field of ethics concerning bioprinting. Some of the ethical issues surrounding bioprinting include equal access to treatment, clinical safety complications, and the enhancement of human body (Dodds 2015).
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Equal access to treatment
Bioprinting focuses on the individual care rather than developing a universal treatment plan for all patients. Personalized medicine is expensive and increases the disparity between the rich and poor. Since 3D printing is an individual treatment, the general public assumes that it may prevent people with financial issues from receiving care. However, Bioprinting improves universal access to healthcare because it will eventually “bring down the time and cost” of treatment. For example, prosthetic limbs and orthopedic surgery can be done in an efficient and inexpensive manner. The bioprinter may be used to manufacture bone replacements and produce customized prosthetic limbs quickly. People would not have to wait months for their prosthetics, which would ultimately decrease the medical expense. Those who were previously excluded from these medical advancements now have full access.
Safety
Any new treatment involving 3D printers is risky and patients must be well informed of the health implications. Doctors hope in the future to print organs in order to replace dysfunctional bio-structures. Similar to organ donations, the cells must match genetically otherwise the recipient’s body will reject the organ. The patient would have an autoimmune response and destroy the donated tissue. The individual’s stem cells must be used to manufacture the organ for the specific patient. In order to advance this technology the medical field must find a way to test and standardize organ production.
Human enhancement
Bioprinting may be used to increase human performance, strength, speed, or endurance. For instance, bioprinting may be used to manufacture enhanced bones and replace regular human bones that are stronger and more flexible. The 3d printer could also be used to increase muscle performance by making muscles more “resilient and less likely to become fatigued”. Lung capacity could also be improved by replacing it with an artificial lung that can increase oxygen efficiency in the blood. Human enhancement would have a dangerous but incredible impact on society; bioprinting could create a culture without disease or imperfection.