ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the question of whether it is ethically justifiable for individuals to seek an experimental gene transfer treatment in order to raise their tolerance to pain. It considers two plausible scenarios in which an individual is seeking treatment with gene transfer tools to better cope with pain: in the first scenario the individual is a patient; in the second an athlete. The chapter utilizes a comparative strategy to highlight the similarities and dissimilarities between the ethical frameworks used to evaluate the two scenarios, and to reach conclusions regarding the justifiability of the practice in the two contexts. The first framework philosophers use to analyse the scenarios is the 'ethics of translational research' approach developed by Jonathan Kimmelman. Therapeutic misconception arises where subjects misinterpret the primary purpose of a clinical trial as therapeutic, and conflate the goals of research with the goals of clinical care.
