Activities of Nikolay BAREKOV related to 2015/2103(INL)
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION with recommendations to the Commission on Civil Law Rules on Robotics
Amendments (13)
Amendment 2 #
Draft opinion
Recital A
Recital A
A. whereas ageing is the result of an unprecedented shortfall in births and increased life expectancy due to progress in living conditions and in modern medicine, and is one of the greatest political, social, and economic challenges of the 21st century for European societies; whereas by 2025 more than 20% of Europeans will be 65 or over, with a particularly rapid increase in numbers of over-80s;
Amendment 18 #
Draft opinion
Recital D a (new)
Recital D a (new)
Da. whereas personal freedom is a cardinal value of European civilisation, whereas the promise to be had from robotisation might lead to a new form of alienation if humankind, having chosen to regard technology as sacred, failed to control its development, whereas the Nietzschean overman (‘Übermensch’), a transhumanist project, is the last surviving utopia, whereas Europeans, however, must make it clear that everything which is technically possible is not always morally acceptable;
Amendment 24 #
Draft opinion
Recital D b (new)
Recital D b (new)
Db. whereas it does not invariably follow that everything which is technically feasible is morally acceptable;
Amendment 28 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 1
Paragraph 1
1. acknowledges that the adoption of new technologies in the field of healthcare, assuming that the emphasis is laid at all times on the doctor-patient relationship and free will, is likely to bring major benefits in terms of patient care and effectiveness of treatment, leading to increased quality of life and life expectancy;
Amendment 36 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 2
Paragraph 2
2. underlines that innovation providing better diagnoses and better insights into treatment, care and rehabilitation options leads to more accurate medical decisions, quicker recovery times, and, provided that human presence and contact were not reduced, could therefore alleviate shortages of healthcare professionals in care and rehabilitation processes; urges that steps be taken to forestall the effects of robotisation in terms of staff cuts and reduction in the fund of experience embodied in medical and paramedical personnel;
Amendment 41 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 3
Paragraph 3
3. notes that CPS are able to change the life of people suffering from a disability, as smart technologies can be used for prevention, assistance, without altering the indispensable need for human contact, for prevention, assistance, including independent living aids, monitoring and companionship;
Amendment 46 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 4
Paragraph 4
4. underlines that elder care robot research and development has grown more mainstream and cheaper, producing products with greater functionality and broader consumer acceptance; notes the wide range of applications of such technologies providing prevention, assistance, monitoring, stimulation, and companionship to elderly people and people suffering from dementia, cognitive disorders, or memory loss; maintains that ‘companion’ robots are purely therapeutic by nature and should not be used for any other purpose;
Amendment 49 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 5
Paragraph 5
5. stresses that although CPS has the potential to enhance the mobility and sociability of people with disabilities and elderly people, human caregivers will still be needed and provide an importantrreplaceable source of social interaction for them; notes that CPS technologies or robots can only augment human care and make the rehabilitation process more targeted, so that medical staff and caregivers can allocate more time for diagnosis and better treatment options; calls for any debate or change to the law to be placed clearly within the World Health Organisation (WHO) framework;
Amendment 72 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 11
Paragraph 11
11. calls on the Commission to consider adapting the existing trial procedures designed for testing medicines to the purpose of testing new medical robotic devices while ensuring that those procedures are safe;
Amendment 79 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 12
Paragraph 12
12. points out that while the development of technology is increasing exponentially, our social systems cannot respond as quickly, and healthcare systems have an even slower response; stresses that these discoveries have a significant impact on civilisation as we know it, and that it is therefore imperative to assessfor technological advances to go hand in hand with assessments of the moral and ethical implications of new technologies in the early phase of their development;
Amendment 86 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 13
Paragraph 13
13. acknowledges the vulnerability of patients with special needs, including children, the elderly and people suffering from disabilities, who may develop an emotional connection with CPS and robots, in particular humanoid or animal-like robots, and underlines the ethical considerations posed by their possible attachment to such figments of the imagination;
Amendment 107 #
Draft opinion
Subheading 6 a (new) and paragraph 16 a (new)
Subheading 6 a (new) and paragraph 16 a (new)
Ethics 16a. The use of care, assistance, and companionship robotics should proceed within a context emphasising human relationships. It should manifestly improve the patient’s quality of life and bring objective comfort. It must respect the dignity of the human person and the patient’s consent, however given. The patient should, in addition, be encouraged at all times to make use of and, if possible, develop his or her own cognitive faculties. The use of robotics should not exempt persons from assuming their professional, social, family, or moral responsibilities for those who are most vulnerable – children, elderly or dependent persons, or the sick;
Amendment 116 #
Draft opinion
Paragraph 18
Paragraph 18
18. Research Ethics Committees (REC), which should include health practitioners working day-to-day as well as philosophers and religious representatives, should take into account the ethical questions raised by the development of medical robotic devices and CPS in many areas of healthcare and assistance to disabled and elderly people. Issues such as equality of access to robotic preventive health care, the privileged patient-doctor care relationship, and the susceptibility of patients with special needs such as children to developing an emotional attachment to robots should be given due consideration.