From time immemorial, our common law has provided one set of remedies for damage to one’s property and another set for damage to one’s person. While the latter allows the full gamut of recovery including pain and suffering, lost earnings, medical expenses, lost enjoyment of life and loss of consortium, the former merely allows recovery of the property’s repair or replacement value. One cannot even recover for the sentimental value of property.1 Yet today, many of us depend on our devices to perform all the normal tasks of living, such as walking, talking, hearing and seeing. Damage to these prosthetics can leave a person without the ability to work or perform activities of daily living until that prosthetic is repaired. As demonstrated in this article, there is arguably a new suspect class in need of protection—cyborgs.2

A 2014 article in Spectrum, a publication of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, reported on the prosthetics developed by Hugh Herr, who at the age of 17 lost both his legs to amputation in a mountain-climbing accident. Three decades after his accident, Herr walks on bionic limbs he created as director of the bio-mechatronics group at MIT. His prosthetics allow him to function normally, run and even rock climb. Herr is quoted in the article as saying he believes that the concept of physical disability will be eliminated entirely in the coming decades.3

This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.

To view this content, please continue to their sites.

Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now

Why am I seeing this?

LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law are third party online distributors of the broad collection of current and archived versions of ALM's legal news publications. LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law customers are able to access and use ALM's content, including content from the National Law Journal, The American Lawyer, Legaltech News, The New York Law Journal, and Corporate Counsel, as well as other sources of legal information.

For questions call 1-877-256-2472 or contact us at [email protected]