CANSELIER Sonia
Droit Paris
France
Legal, philosophical and social issues in neurosciences: the deep brain stimulation case
ANR
358,817
01/10/2014
4
NormaStim is a 36 months research project dedicated to legal, philosophical and sociological issues in neurosciences, studied through a specific technology: Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS). At the interface between experiment and daily clinic in the field of neurosurgery, neurology and psychiatry, DBS is a well-known therapy but also a research in progress. DBS is thus an interesting case for studying important contemporary questions, notably the links between clinical research and daily medical practice, the comparison between drugs and medical devices, the understanding of care concepts, the way social, medical and legal interventions connect or the transformations of responsibility and liability (civil, criminal, medical ). NormaStim will associate: – a multidisciplinary team of 28 social sciences and humanities researchers, with the cooperation of DBS specialists in Paris, Grenoble and Nantes; – 3 partners well-known in the field of Law (UMR de droit compare); Sociology, Anthropology and History of health and sciences (CERMES3); Philosophy and History of care, medicine and neurosciences (SPHERE). Two hypotheses are at the core of the project: 1) DBS is a key technology for studying contemporary issues in science and health; 2) DBS can be a revelator of the changes induced by neurosciences in the medical, social and legal fields. The research program will develop three axes regarding a) the regulation, standardization and development modalities of DBS; 2) care and life experiences modalities (neurodegenerative diseases, chronicity, normal/pathological/enhancement distinctions, solidarities and mobilizations); 3) Impact of legal context and trials on practices and the other way round (liability, criminal behaviors, expertise).