Civil Liability for Neuroprosthesis Damage: Current Problems of Theory and Law Enforcement

Abstract

Conceptual and legal problems arise as a result of the integration of a person with objects of the outside world through neuroprosthetics. Legal norms are differentiated into provisions defining the legal status of persons and the legal regime of objects. In the generally accepted understanding, the bodily boundary separates a person from objects of the outside world, and thus determines law enforcement. The development of neurotechnologies blurs the once clear line between an individual and the objects surrounding him, between the subject and the object of a legal relationship. As a result of the commission of an illegal harmful action against a neuroprosthesis, the question of whether the victim’s personality or property has been harmed is being actualized. The answer to it determines the nature and content of the rights belonging to the subject, as well as the measures of protection and liability that can be applied in case of violation. Damage to the neuroprosthesis, regardless of the degree of its physical integration with the patient, entails a disorder or loss of body function restored through the prosthetics system, in connection with which its qualification as harm to health is justified. A functional approach to understanding the boundaries of a subject of civil law is argued.