A Hard Pill to Swallow: Ethical Problems of Digital Medication

Abstract

Late last year news broke that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the inaugural digital medication, Abilify MyCite (AMC) (FDA, 2017). AMC uses digital technology embedded in the medication to track ingestion with the purported goal of increasing adherence. As members of the field with diverse research and clinical interests, we were compelled to explicate ethical concerns regarding digital medication. Our areas of scholarship—collectively, social work practice, bioethics, gerontology, disability studies, health care technologies, and mental health interventions—are uniquely relevant to this topic. We argue that the introduction of AMC is ethically problematic and requires critical reflection by social workers and health care professionals broadly. We encourage social workers’ active participation in decision making related to adoption and...