Personalized medicine: Conceptual, ethical, and empirical challenges

Abstract

The development of so-called personalized medicine (PM) has raised great hopes and expectations among researchers, patients, health-care providers, and politicians. This chapter explores firstly the terminology and conceptual premises of PM. In the second stage, there will be a brief review of the state of the art of PM and medical-technical challenges associated with this approach to medicine. The subsequent normative analysis will focus on two topics which have been given particular consideration in the philosophical and ethical debate around PM: (1) the relation between PM, autonomy, and responsibility of the individual and (2) the setting of priorities in light of the PM approach to research and practice.