Ethical challenges and governance pathways of doctor digital twins
10.12026/j.issn.1001-8565.2026.09.02
- VernacularTitle:医生数字分身的伦理挑战与治理路径
- Author:
Da HE
1
;
Yingting LI
2
;
Xinyu ZHANG
2
;
Chunhua YANG
2
;
Jing XIE
2
Author Information
1. Shanghai Health and Development Research Center/Shanghai Institute of Medical Science and Technology Information， Shanghai 200040， China
2. School of Health Economics and Management， Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine， Nanjing 210046， China
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- Keywords:
doctor digital twins;
ethical challenge;
ethical governance;
metaverse;
generative artificial intelligence
- From:
Chinese Medical Ethics
2026;39(9):1144-1151
- CountryChina
- Language:Chinese
-
Abstract:
Doctor digital twins， as a significant innovative form within the medical metaverse， integrate technologies such as large language models， natural language processing and multimodal learning. They can simulate doctors’ appearance， language style， and certain clinical reasoning， realizing diverse applications such as medical knowledge dissemination， intelligent consultation， health management， and medical education. While enhancing the accessibility and intelligence of healthcare services， doctor digital twins also give rise to multidimensional ethical challenges， such as data security and privacy breaches， algorithmic black box and bias， a crisis of doctor-patient trust， weakening of doctors’ subjectivity， and ambiguities in legal responsibility. This paper systematically reviewed the core concepts and current application status of doctor digital twins， constructing a tripartite analytical dimension centered on “technology， doctor-patient relationship， and law.” It focused on pivotal ethical issues encountered in practical application， including data security， patient informed consent and trust， legal responsibility delineation， and others. These aimed to provide ethical guidance and theoretical support for the sustainable development of doctor digital twins， promote the deep integration of smart healthcare and humanistic care， as well as contribute to building a safer， more trustworthy， and sustainable intelligent healthcare system.
