Let's discuss two ethical questions.

First, let's continue our thinking about the government's right to healthcare information. More specifically, does the government have the right to assign each person born in the US a unique health identifier and then collect and store all your personal health information in a centralized data base? To help your thinking, consider how useful such a data base could be in determining the effectiveness of different clinical techniques, controlling epidemics, and strategic planning to best meet a community's healthcare needs. On the other hand, are such benefits outweighed by the risk that such personal information might be misused to discriminate against people who might have cancer, HIV/AIDS, or a genetic disposition towards extremely high cost illnesses?

After that, let's shake the government out of our heads, and think about a very different type of ethical issue - Mobile apps.

Apple has included a health app with its most recent iPhone and operating system update. This means that in the not too distant future, anyone with an iPhone will have the ability to monitor their own basic vital signs like blood pressure and heart rate.

What if someone buys an iPhone in Nepal or Sierra Leone, finds out they have dangerously high blood pressure, but does not have access to medical treatment? Does Apple have an ethical responsibility to help arrange treatment to that person? And further - since we now know about such a person, do we also have an ethical responsibility to help provide treatment ourselves? Or - are we are on ethically sound ground to stand back and just let that person die?