The Role of the Medical Officer in the Soldier’s Enhancement
In: European Journal of Health LawSearch for other papers by Renaud Bouvet in
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Abstract
Increasing a soldier’s perception, action and survival abilities responds to an operational need justified by the evolution of the battlefield. The available or conceivable means are multiple, including invasive techniques involving the soldier’s mind and body. This field of intervention places the medical officer at the centre of the debate, as a guarantor of the soldier’s aptitude for combat, and as a possible actor of the soldier’s enhancement. The conditions of consent and medical necessity seem overwhelmed by the challenges of using a technique of enhancement in this context. Consent indeed appears necessary, but insufficient to justify its implementation, and the requirement of medical necessity seems obsolete, as the normal/pathological dichotomy that structures the medical thought is outdated, the goal being to reach a “supranormality”. Moreover, the decision-making process creates a tension concerning the articulation of the aim of medical practice with the operational objectives.
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The Role of the Medical Officer in the Soldier’s Enhancement
In: European Journal of Health LawSearch for other papers by Renaud Bouvet in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Abstract
Increasing a soldier’s perception, action and survival abilities responds to an operational need justified by the evolution of the battlefield. The available or conceivable means are multiple, including invasive techniques involving the soldier’s mind and body. This field of intervention places the medical officer at the centre of the debate, as a guarantor of the soldier’s aptitude for combat, and as a possible actor of the soldier’s enhancement. The conditions of consent and medical necessity seem overwhelmed by the challenges of using a technique of enhancement in this context. Consent indeed appears necessary, but insufficient to justify its implementation, and the requirement of medical necessity seems obsolete, as the normal/pathological dichotomy that structures the medical thought is outdated, the goal being to reach a “supranormality”. Moreover, the decision-making process creates a tension concerning the articulation of the aim of medical practice with the operational objectives.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 291 | 129 | 14 |
| Full Text Views | 452 | 1 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 245 | 2 | 0 |
