An insightful examination of how health automation is reshaping medicine, expertise, and patient care. Biomedical technologies are transforming the way chronic diseases are monitored, treated, and managed. From continuous glucose monitors to automated insulin delivery systems, these innovations promise greater freedom, improved health outcomes, and a better quality of life. Yet as health care becomes increasingly automated, new questions emerge about trust, risk, data ownership, and who gets to shape the future of medicine. In Automating Health, Nataliya D. Brantly examines the social, political, and ethical dimensions of biomedical technologies through the lens of Type 1 diabetes while drawing broader lessons for chronic disease management. She explores the growing reliance on automated systems alongside the perspectives of clinicians, regulators, patients, caregivers, and the thriving community of citizen innovators developing open-source alternatives to commercial medical devices. By placing these communities in conversation, Brantly reveals how lived experience can challenge conventional ideas of expertise, influence technological innovation, and reshape health care policy. Looking beyond the technologies themselves, Automating Health offers a fresh perspective on the increasingly intertwined relationship between people and the devices they depend on. As automation becomes a defining feature of modern health care, Brantly shows why understanding the human consequences of these systems is essential for building policies and technologies that are not only more effective, but also more equitable, transparent, and responsive to the people they serve.
