Identity Theft, Deep Brain Stimulation, and the Primacy of Post-trial Obligations

Hastings Cent Rep. 2024 Jan;54(1):34-41. doi: 10.1002/hast.1567.ABSTRACTPatient narratives from two investigational deep brain stimulation trials for traumatic brain injury and obsessive-compulsive disorder reveal that injury and illness rob individuals of personal identity and that neuromodulation can restore it. The early success of these interventions makes a compelling case for continued post-trial access to these technologies. Given the centrality of personal identity to respect for persons, a failure to provide continued access can be understood to represent a metaphorical identity theft. Such a loss recapitulates the pain of an individual's initial injury or illness and becomes especially tragic because it could be prevented by robust policy. A failure to fulfill this normative obligation constitutes a breach of disability law, which would view post-trial access as a means to achieve social reintegration through this neurotechnological accommodation.PMID:38390681 | DOI:10.1002/hast.1567
Source: The Hastings Center Report - Category: Medical Ethics Authors: Source Type: research