Ethical Consideration For Human Subjects

Have you or anyone around you ever been involved in an experiment that some would call unwanted or unethical? Perhaps maybe even it happening to young children, It may surprise you how often unethical experimenting has been documented throughout the nation no less worldwide, and no less to very young children. This has been happening for years throughout history and still even today. However, this is a very highly debated topic as what someone would constitute a certain experiment unethical, others may count it as perfectly normal. Whether it is the case of Dr. Lauretta Bender, or the ever so famous case of the University of Iowa Speech therapy experiment, you are sure to find various amount of cases of unethical

The art of medicine and curing diseases was not always approached in a scientific way. In fact, many advances occurred between 1919 to 1939, after technological advances allowed scientists to apply the scientific method to medical research. At this time, the ethics of using patients as test subjects either for new medicines or as samples for further testing were not considered. An extreme example of this was the Nazi’s using concentration camp inmates – including children – to run painful and invasive experiments. More modern examples are not so easy to identify as unethical, however. While amputating a leg to develop methods to deal with fractures and war wounds is obviously unethical, harvesting cells to develop a vaccine is not so clear cut, as the disadvantage to the patient is hard to identify. Coming from the various Nazi testing and especially the Nuremberg testing and trials, another code of ethics was developed, called the Nuremberg Code.

The central ethical conflicts of the Clara’s case are several infringements committed regarding human rights in human experimentation. According to the American Psychological Association Code of Ethics [APA] (2010) experiments such as Clara would have violated several sections from standard 8: 8.01 (obtaining institutional approval), 8.02 (participants’ informed consent), 8.04 (client/patient, student, and subordinate respect to continue in research), 8.07 (deception in research), and 8.09 (humane care). Section 8.01 indicates that researchers must obtain approval prior

Based from this experiments, The Belmont Report Ethical Principles and Guidelines for the Protection of Human Subjects of Research was submitted in April 18,1979 to …….? (“Impact,” n.d.).

Frankenstein is a fictional story, however the universal theme of lack of ethics in scientific experimentation can be pulled from this story and applied to modern times. During World War 2, Nazi scientists performed grueling experiments, utterly blinded by what they were doing in a pursuit to learn the secrets of life. Joseph Mengele, infamously known as the “Angel of Death”, engaged in human

Ethical dilemmas are one of the many sensitive issues that come with doing psychological research with human participants. As seen in several famous psychology studies such as the Stanford prison experiment, Milgram experiment, and Tuskegee experiment, ethics in psychological studies are important to protect both the individuals being subjected to research and the researcher. While these specific experiments did not include children, it does bring up an important conversation regarding ethics in research. There are several guidelines put in place by the American Psychological Association to protect humans during research. However, special considerations and guidelines are put into place when working with

In 1947 the Nuremberg Laws were passed which are a set of ethical standards for human experimentation. They were produced as a result of a trial against several Naazi doctors who conducted experiments on prisoners during WWII. (Nuremberg Race Laws) Throughout history it has been apparent that if a person wants something they will do whatever they have to, to do it. This is applicable in HeLa with the scientists and their research. After the Nuremberg Laws were passed in 1947, scientists still injected people with Henrietta’s cancer cells despite the risks. In 1954, Chester Southam began to conduct experiments without patient consent to see whether or not injections of HeLa cells could cause cancer. This and other experiments led to the term, informed consent. This term appeared in court in 1957. Informed consent means that the doctor informs the patient of all the procedures and risks involved as well as anything else the doctor plans to do. Along with this the patient understands and agrees to everything that is going to happen. Actions against Southam and another researcher named Mandel made people more aware of how patients were being abused. In 1965, the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York found Southam and Mandel guilty of unprofessional conduct and called for stricter guidelines regarding human research subjects

Nuremberg Code of 1947 was written after the Second World War, in which German physicians who participated in the Nazi concentration camps were prostituted for unethical human experiment. ("Nuremberg Code", n.d.) The Nuremberg code of 1947 contain ten points about proper consent, how the study should positive impact on population, the need for pre-existing knowledge, the avoidance of any harm or suffering to the participants and concluding the study if injury or risk for death occurs, if the risk exceed benefits the study needs to stop, the freedom to leave the study at any time if the participants are unable of continuing, and lastly, the staff must stop the study if they believe conditions are dangerous. (Post, 2004) Although the Tuskegee study started before the Nuremburg code of ethics were established, the Tuskegee study continue until 1972 in which the researchers ignored the Nuremburg code and continue with their unethical study. The researchers failed to properly inform the participants of the study and to obtain proper consent. Furthermore, the researchers cause harm to the Tuskegee participants by not providing them the proper treatment for their illness and not allow the participants to leave the study when they weren’t able to continue. Thus, unethical behaviors continue even when guidelines were provided to the researchers and the researchers failed to

For example, the British Army tested on the Irish and the natives to see the effects of mustard gas on different skin colors. The United States tested infectious diseases on the army by contaminating them via injection. None of these incidents brought upon changes in laws or regulations. Only one main research abomination caused a set of rules to be established. It was 1947; German doctors conducted experiments on the concentration camps’ population. Experiments were often deadly or highly debilitating. After the war was over, these doctors were prosecuted. These trials came to be known as the Nuremberg Trials which allowed for the Nuremberg Code to be created and enforced world-wide. This code states that any subject who participates in an experiment must give voluntary consent and that it is absolutely essential for any medical trial to continue. This was a break-through in moral codes. However, in this day and age we still manage to see researchers finding loop holes in order to bypass this code. More scrutiny of testing rules must be applied.

The Nuremburg Code of ethics, was established after human research atrocities in World War II created a standard of ethics. This ethical standard provided the general public with confidence and trust in that human participants involved in research will be respected and receive moral treatment. Unfortunately, the Tuskegee study undermined established ethical boundaries and it violated many aspects of informed consent, autonomy, nonmaleficence as well as many other ethical principles (Riggs,

Human experimentation has a history of scandal that often shapes people’s views of the ethics of research. Often the earliest cited case is English physician Edward Jenner’s development of the smallpox vaccine in 1796,where he injected an eight-year-old boy child with pus taken from a cowpox infection and then deliberately exposed her to an infected carrier of smallpox. Although Jenner’s experiment was successful and it confirmed his theory, the method of

The first ethical principle stated by the Belmont Report is respect for persons. “Respect for persons incorporates at least two ethical convictions: first, that individuals should be treated as autonomous agents, and second, that persons with diminished autonomy are entitled to protection” (The Belmont Report). The researcher must respect the subjects decisions and be obliged to allow them to take part of the experiment voluntarily. The second

Throughout history there are many examples of humans conducting experiments on other humans. Over the years human experimentation has greatly advanced the knowledge of human physiology and psychology, leading to better treatments for ailments both physical and mental as well as a better overall understanding of the human constitution. Despite all of the good which human experimentation has done for the human race there have been times when experimenters have taken human experimentation past the bounds of morality. This unethical human experimentation is most often caused when the experimenters are, in some way, able to justify their experiments.

The Nuremberg Doctors Trial of 1946 is the preeminent case recognizing the importance of medical ethics and human rights specifically about human research subjects. The defendants in the trials include Nazi leadership, physicians, and investigators prosecuted for conducting unethical and inhumane medical experiments on civilians and prisoners of war resulting in extreme pain, suffering, permanent injury and often death. The Nuremberg Code, borne of these trials, establishes ethical guidelines for human experimentation to ensure the rights of subjects in medical research. Herein, this writer will first identify and discuss ethical dilemmas presented in the Nuremberg case followed by three

Throughout the ages, many experiments have been performed on willing and unwilling participants. Some experiments happened to be non-harming, while others caused much distress, pain, and sometimes death to the subjects. Human experimentation today has greatly transitioned due to past experiences for the better of the participants. Some of the past experiments that brought upon the changes in laws and standards were the Little Albert Experiment, Stanford Prison Experiment, human vivisection, and the Tuskegee Experiments. Safety has become the major concept in the laws for human experimentation due because of many experiments in the fields of medical and psychological studies. With the standards in experimentation