Consumer Medicine (CM) is gaining momentum through wearables and tests that are marketed directly to consumers with a promise to help users take control of their health. Consumer Medicine: Philosophical and Ethical Implications (COPE) is an empirically informed philosophical analysis of how self-monitoring and self-testing for health optimisation impact healthcare and how health is experienced and strived for in a data-intensive society.
Companies and policymakers stress the potential of CM to improve disease prevention. Yet, concerns are raised about the scientific validity of CM and the risk of medicalizing healthy people. There is a need to explore how CM technologies impact experiences of health and expectations of medicine.
Combining methodologies from philosophy of science and medical anthropology, COPE critically analyzes assumptions underlying political and commercial visions of CM, as well as lived experiences of CM in primary care and the everyday lives of users. The COPE project relies on empirical research methodologies, including qualitative interviews, ethnographic observations, and document analysis.
Green, S., Haase, C.B. & Spalletta, O. (2025). "Precision prevention and the temporal disruption of evidence: the case of heart rate notifications from wearables." Med Health Care and Philos . https://doi.org/10.1007/s11019-025-10308-0.
Spalletta, O. & Larsen, M. R. “Economies of Assurance: Reconfigurations of uncertainty in human-machine relations. 4S Conference, Seattle WA (online). September 4, 2025.
Green, S. & Spalletta, O. "Disease prevention and the art of car maintenance" (submitted title: "The vision of precision and the limits of medicine"), Preventing Overdiagnosis, Oxford, UK, August 4, 2025.
Green, S., Skov, L. S., Kaspar, A. "Measuring aging and buying time? The science and spin of aging biomarkers", European Philosophy of Science Association, July 28, 2025.
Green, S., Skov, L.D., Spalletta, O. & Tybjerg, K. "The measured body: Exploring the implications of wellness technologies and self-diagnosis through objects and images", International Society for the History, Philosophy and Social Studies of Biology, July 23, 2025. (Interactive session receiving an honorary mention for the best Interdisciplinary Session).
Green, S., "The vision of precision prevention and the temporal disruption of evidence", the Science Studies Colloquium Series, University of Oslo, Norway, March 26, 2025. https://www.uio.no/english/research/news-and-events/events/guest-lectures-seminars/science-studies/events/2025/sara-green.html
Green, S., Spalletta, O., Skov, L. D. & Haase, C. B., (2025) "Gør smartwatches os sundere?" in: Aktuel Naturvidenskab. 1, p. 8-11.
Members:
| Name | Title | |
|---|---|---|
| Sara Green | Associate Professor | sara.green@ind.ku.dk |
| Postdoc | olivia.spalletta@ind.ku.dk | |
| PhD Student | lds@ind.ku.dk | |
|
Emma Grundtvig Gram |
Affiliated Researcher | emma.gram@sund.ku.dk |
|
Susanne Henningsson |
Affiliated Researcher | |
|
Daan Kenis |
Affiliated Researcher |
Funded by:
COPE has received three years of funding from Carlsbergfondet
Project: Consumer Medicine: Philosophical and Ethical Impliations (COPE)
Period: 2024-2027