Some social issues that could occur from the implemented prototypes and blue light sterilization is with regards to it not being accepted by the public due to naivety. The users or patients of the hospitals who potentially may use a urinary catheter with blue light may be hesitant, because of their lack of knowledge about blue light. This arises from an underwhelming amount of research done by scientists for using blue light sterilization techniques in clinical settings. There is a substantial amount of more research on UV radiation, since it is the more popular sterilization method at this point of time. Patients may think that UV radiation has better efficacy than blue light because it is the standard for medical device sterilization. However, patients may not be aware that UV radiation also is harmful to mammalian cells while blue light is not. It is important to inform the public about the advantages of blue light and doctors should inform patients that this is a very valid and possibly safer alternative to UV radiation.

Some health and safety issues with the prototype may arise from the thermoplastic covering of the LED mounted circuit board. It is essential that the thermoplastic is tightly capped to waterproof the circuit. If it is not capped and liquid enters the circuitry, there may be a possible short circuit that could potentially cause a shock. It’s important to keep the electrical components separate from the liquid aspects, such as the synthetic urine during testing of the prototype. Additionally, though blue light is known to be safe for mammalian cells, it is important that more testing be done before it is used in clinical settings. The FDA should definitely approve this prototype before it is used with patients because there needs to be an assurance that the prototype is being efficient in reducing biofilms on urinary catheters and not causing harm to any patient.

There are no ethical issues at the moment regarding the implemented prototypes. Unlike other design projects, this project did not require the use of any live animal species and etc. Only ethical issue may arise is that if this design somehow gets implemented in a clinical settings, doctors need to make sure that the blue light catheter is being used correctly to sterilize and prevent HAIs in patients. An environmental issue could potentially be that the blue light requires power and electricity to run that could be contributing to global warming. However, this amount of energy is very small and improving health globally outweighs the cost of energy.