Perspectives on harm in personalized medicine

Abstract

Avoiding harm is an uncontroversial aim of personalized medicine and other epidemiologic initiatives. However, the precise mathematical translation of "harm" is disputable. Here we use a formal causal language to study common, but distinct, definitions of "harm". We clarify that commitment to a definition of harm has important practical and philosophical implications for decision making. We relate our practical and philosophical considerations to ideas from medical ethics and legal practice.