Ethics Discussion

.docx

School

University of Missouri, St. Louis *

*We aren’t endorsed by this school

Course

3250

Subject

Medicine

Date

Dec 6, 2023

Type

docx

Pages

Uploaded by rharris10396

For full points, initial post of 100-300 words by Wednesday and 2 peer replies of 100-300 words by Friday. In your post, 1. Describe the ethical case you researched, 2. detail which ethical principles were breached, 3. discuss what this means for current mistrust with the medical community, and 4. what safeguards are now in place to prevent this from happening in the future (how do we protect human subjects?) The events that occurred in Nazi Germany in World War II are infamous as examples of the despicable things human beings can do to one another. From secretly sterilizing people en masse with x-rays to sewing two humans together to study “conjoined twins” to purposely allowing typhus to spread rampant throughout the concentration camps, the Nazis were endlessly creative in their disgusting experimentation (Neuberger, 2005). The Nazis considered those of Slavic descent, Jewish descent, and gypsies to be subhuman (Neuberger, 2005). As a result, the Nazis felt no guilt when they used these human beings as test subjects. Some even delighted in maiming and killing people in the name of science. As is obvious, the Nazis did not bother to get any of their prisoners’ consent before performing any of the experiments. While some of these experiments did produce results that were a benefit to the rest of the world, the ends do not excuse the means. They did not attempt to protect the subject from harm or suffering, they did not try to avoid injury or death, and they did not mitigate any risks. The subjects did not have any choice and had no way to stop the experiments. While these experiments were obviously inhumane and abhorrent, there are still some places today where medical ethics are questionable. Even in war, the Geneva convention has been put in place to provide a baseline of treatment for soldiers, prisoners of war, and civilians. There will always be some who question if medical staff really have the patient’s wishes in mind when going about their duties. There are several different codes of ethics that have been put in place over the years to ensure all human subjects are treated with dignity and respect, as they deserve. Things like the Declaration of Helsinki, the Nuremberg Code, the Belmont Report, and several other codes all outline ethical principles scientists must follow when medical research involves human subjects. There are medical boards who double check everything involved in medical decision making to ensure that no ethics are broken. Neuberger, J. (2005). Nazi medicine and the ethics of human research. The Lancet , 366 (9488), 799–800. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(05)67199-1

Discover more documents: Sign up today!

Unlock a world of knowledge! Explore tailored content for a richer learning experience. Here's what you'll get:

Access to all documents
Unlimited textbook solutions
24/7 expert homework help