Citation

Tessier P. Med. Sci. 2014; 30(1): 103-106.

Vernacular Title

Corps monnayable, prise en charge de l'accident et du corps accidenté

Affiliation

Institut d'histoire des sciences et des techniques, 13, rue du Four, 75006 Paris, France.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2014, EDK)

DOI

10.1051/medsci/20143001021

PMID

24472467

Abstract

In our contemporary societies, physical injury resulting from a severe accident triggers a support process involving medical care and financial compensation, calculated according to the technical expertise of disability. Since 1958, the obligation for every individual to purchase an insurance has created the legal concept of pretium doloris ("prize of the pain") referring to a damage due to the physical and moral suffering of an individual. This concept also involves the idea that the injured person should be defined as a "victim" of a "prejudice" from which this person is entitled to expect compensation. The notion of compensation, whether financial or through medical care, contribute to give a social definition of the accident conceived as an existential phenomenon. In this paper, we undertake a philosophical analysis of these categories that allows to address the issue of care and that of evaluation - including financial - of the physical injury caused by the accident. We will see in particular that the problem of compensation refers both to the status of the body and the "recognition" of physical disability in financial terms. More broadly, the study of the repairing process of the physical injury will allow us to examine the contemporary issue of "cash value body" from a new perspective.

Language: fr