Rectifying Situations
On August 25, 2025, Professor Angela Ballantyne will deliver her Inaugural Professorial Lecture at the University of Otago, Wellington. The event, which will take place at the Nordmeyer Theatre, 23a Mein Street, Newtown, will start at 5:30 pm and will be free for all attendees.
The lecture will focus on the ethical issues surrounding healthcare innovations, particularly the integration of AI tools in clinical settings. With the rapid advancement of technology, these issues have become increasingly important, and Professor Ballantyne's lecture aims to pragmatically inch us closer to making things, if not right, then at least better.
Professor Ballantyne's research highlights critical discussions on the adoption of AI scribes in healthcare. She emphasises the importance of patient autonomy and explicit consent, ethical oversight and policy development, and balancing innovation with patient rights.
In her bioethics work, Professor Ballantyne stresses the need for health practitioners to explicitly seek patient consent before employing AI transcription services, as implicit consent may undermine patient rights. She also points out that the anticipated Medical Council of New Zealand guidance is expected to formalize standards for AI use in healthcare to ensure robustness in policies and protect patients’ rights to opt out without compromising care quality.
The lecture will likely weave these themes into a broader bioethical framework about making healthcare systems "right," ensuring justice, respect, and dignity amidst rapid technological change.
For those unable to attend in person, the event will also be available online via Zoom. There are other events available to explore at the University of Otago, Wellington, which hosts a wide range of resources under the Ethics and science topic.
The event comes at a time when human systems are challenged by declining social trust, a legacy of injustice, and unequal distributions of power. Professor Ballantyne's lecture promises to provide valuable insights into how bioethics can help clarify and navigate these ethical dilemmas.
[1] Source: [University of Otago News] (https://www.otago.ac.nz/news/) [2] Source: [New Zealand Medical Journal] (https://www.nzma.org.nz/)
- The Inaugural Professorial Lecture by Professor Angela Ballantyne will explore ethical considerations in integrating AI tools into medical-conditions management, touching upon important topics such as education-and-self-development in the field of health-and-wellness.
- As part of its offerings, the University of Otago, Wellington provides resources on Ethics and science, including seminars and lectures that delve into various aspects of science, particularly those pertaining to health-and-wellness, medical-conditions, and education-and-self-development.
