Last update:
15-Sep-2016

Medical interventions may be justified when a malady is identified in the patient. The primary aim of medicine is the use of biotechnology for therapeutic purposes. When no medically recognizable health problem can be diagnosed, intervention is not "medically necessary" but it might be considered as a form of enhancement. Although professionals from other fields are needed to provide the relevant technical expertise, physicians will continue to play a crucial role in the use of the enhancement biotechnology on individual human beings. In the future, healthcare professionals will be called upon to handle patients with no disease or obvious bodily malformation. The Greek legal framework of medical liability has been designed based on the traditional aims of medicine and on the established ways in which medicine is practised. This article presents an assessment of the way this new approach to medical intervention will influence medical liability theory and a proposal of possible doctrinal reforms.

Key words: Enhancement, Malpractice, Medical liability, Theory.