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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Nov 21, 2025

Therapy Interventions for Upper Limb Amputees Undergoing Selective Nerve Transfers

Therapy Interventions for Upper Limb Amputees Undergoing Selective Nerve Transfers

Published on: October 29, 2021

Elective amputation and neuroprosthetic limbs.

Richard B Gibson¹

¹The Centre for Social Ethics and Policy, The University of Manchester Law School, Manchester, UK.

The New Bioethics : a Multidisciplinary Journal of Biotechnology and the Body

|January 15, 2021

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Advancements in neuroprosthetics may ethically permit healthy limb amputation for individuals with Body Integrity Identity Disorder (BIID). This technology challenges the disabled/non-disabled dichotomy, urging a merits-based evaluation of amputation.

Keywords:

Body Integrity Identity Disorder disability harm prosthetics

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Area of Science:

Neuroethics
Biomedical Engineering
Disability Studies

Background:

Body Integrity Identity Disorder (BIID) is a condition where individuals experience a persistent desire for amputation of a healthy limb.
Traditional ethical arguments against amputation often cite the resulting harm of disability.
Neuroprosthetic advancements offer the potential for artificial limbs to match biological function.

Purpose of the Study:

To explore the ethical implications of neuroprosthetic developments on the viability of healthy limb amputation for BIID.
To re-evaluate arguments against amputation based on the potential for functional restoration via neuroprosthetics.
To challenge the dichotomy between disabled and non-disabled identities.

Main Methods:

Philosophical analysis of ethical frameworks.
Review of disability studies literature.
Examination of current and projected neuroprosthetic capabilities.
Analysis of BIID research and patient perspectives.

Main Results:

Neuroprosthetics challenge the notion that disability inherently equates to harm or inferiority.
The potential for high-functioning artificial limbs alters the ethical calculus of amputation.
The disabled/non-disabled binary is complicated by the prospect of technologically enhanced embodiment.

Conclusions:

Healthy limb amputation for BIID should be ethically evaluated on its own merits, not solely on perceived disability harm.
Neuroprosthetics necessitate a reconsideration of disability as a purely negative state.
Ethical frameworks must adapt to technological advancements that blur the lines of human embodiment.