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.