The report La discriminación de las personas mayores en el ámbito de la salud has just been published, which is part of the collection Los derechos humanos de las personas mayores en España: la igualdad de trato y la no discriminación por razón de edad (The human rights of the elderly in Spain: equal treatment and non-discrimination on grounds of age), prepared by the HelpAge International Spain Foundation. In this report I had the opportunity to participate with the text “The prohibition of discrimination against the elderly in the field of health, with special attention to the risks arising from the use of artificial intelligence systems” (downloadable in pdf format). Obviously, these risks do not apply exclusively to the elderly or to all elderly people to the same degree.
The chapter deals, firstly, with the radical prohibition, at the constitutional, international and legal levels, of discrimination against the elderly in the field of health.
Secondly, it is recalled that this prohibition does not disappear in times of pandemic, when health care for the most vulnerable people is particularly important, whether they live at home, are in a nursing home or in a health center.
Thirdly, and principally, this chapter deals with the growing use of algorithmic systems and artificial intelligence, sometimes in the form of socio-assistance robots, in the provision of healthcare to the elderly, which can be used to improve diagnoses and disease detection, facilitate clinical care or the development of drugs and therapies, but without forgetting the risk of generating new discrimination, the growing and sometimes poorly controlled access to health data or the difficulties in granting informed consent.