The pioneering spirit of research has answered countless questions, cured countless illnesses, and has prevented the loss of countless lives. Yet, although there is infinite potential in obtaining knowledge that could revolutionize the medical, social, and physiological world, research must not be conducted in a way that compromises the human subjects that are included in the study. For this discussion board, I will be discussing the case study “Bad Blood” while focusing on some of the ethical dilemmas that were involved in this specific case study.
According to LoBiondo-Wood and Haber (2013), ethics is defined as a theory or discipline that deals with moral values and conduct. As members of the health care team, each of us is responsible to uphold certain standards of ethical care. Likewise, those who conduct research are required to uphold standards of ethical and legal research practices. This however, was not always
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Before the 1970’s, and the creation of federal guidelines for ethical conduct involving human researched subjects, many cases of unethical research practices were routinely conducted. Now, in the age of the institutional review boards (IRB) human subjects are protected from being involved in any study that unduly exposes them to harmful or unethical research participation (Nichols, 2016). Yet, despite the measures that are currently set in place, unethical research can still happen in today’s modern world. Therefore, diligence must still be upheld to prevent unethical research practices.
As seen in the article by Fourtner, Fourtner, and Herreid (2000), unethical studies have taken place throughout history including the famous Tuskegee, Alabama, Syphilis Study. Interestingly, the study was created with good intensions. At the start of the
Test subjects in medical experiments have always been a controversial topic, but this argument is often only thought of when animals come in to play. What about the humans who get tested on unwillingly, or people who do not possess the capability to consent to such procedures? They are also in need of someone to look out for them. Throughout time, many governments have done extreme testing to move forward their population’s health and for what they call the greater good. Yet, more often than not, these test have no rules or regulations. A moral code has been established slowly after many of these ghastly occurrences became known. Even to this day, we still have people trying to bypass ethical codes such as the Nuremberg code and the
Research using human subjects has produced many significant benefits to society, but it has also proposed many moral questions. The Belmont Report defines the most basic ethical principles and guidelines that should be used in research regarding the use of human subjects (“Belmont Report,” 2016). These principles and guidelines used in the Belmont Report are defined by the National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research. The Commission was instructed to determine four things. First they needed to define the boundaries between research and practice. Then they needed to determine the risk versus benefit assessment when using human subjects. Next they had to decide what guidelines were appropriate for selecting human subjects. Lastly, the Commission had to define the
In the case study Tuskegee, the study in nature project on syphilis was unethical because observation the nature of diseases without treating patient would be immoral and unfair. Also, the selection of controlled groups were only focused on a minority group of African American men which is not unethical. I am strongly disagree with this research because doing experiment on human moral and professional unacceptable. On the other hand, one of the Hippocratic Oath is keeping patient from harm and injustice which is total disagree with the idea of study in nature research project on syphilis. In addition, the research also classified this group of patients as bad blood person which it doesn’t make sense to categorized illness patient bad blood
The atrocities involved in unethical human research led to the National Commission to establish the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research resulting in development of ethical codes of conduct and principles to guide research. The foundation of research rest on the principles of: Respect of Person, Beneficence, and Justice. Certainly as unethical practice overlaps in its occurrence, so does application of the Belmont Principles, research relies on complete data, as a result the consideration for protection of human subjects must include all aspects of human
In order to improve healthcare treatments new research needs to published, medical research is happening all the time. That is where medical ethics come to play. Medical ethics can be defined as doing the right thing while achieving the best possible outcome for the patient.
In all fields of science, researchers are faced with ethical dilemmas. While different in nature, scientists are brought back to the same question of integrity. Some problems arise when a participant’s “right to confidentiality” is threatened, as Ioana Hiriscau and colleagues point out. ( Hiriscau, I., Stingelin-Giles, N., Stadler, C., Schmeck, K., & Reiter-Theil, S. (2014). A right to confidentiality or a duty to disclose? Ethical guidance for conducting prevention research with children and adolescents. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 23(6), 409-416. doi:10.1007/s00787-014-0526-y ) Other sciences, like biology, have their own morals to deal with as well. Many biologists are faced with arguments from animal rights activists who believe that “being a predator and testing prey for experiments is a violation of their rights.” ( Keulartz, J. j. (2016). Should the Lion Eat Straw Like the Ox? Animal Ethics and the Predation Problem. Journal Of Agricultural & Environmental Ethics, 29(5), 813-834) While no science has the exact same problems as another, the underlying theme remains the same. Social sciences tend to deal with ethical issues concerning humans and their rights, while natural sciences deal with animals or plants – nature – and their rights.
Now, we move on to addressing the question: Why are so many people convinced that it is unethical to use data obtained through controversial means to further current medical research? In order to address this question, we must be able to consider that these people, ostensibly uncorrupted and possessing the moral high ground are the privileged few. Many of them will live here. And perhaps, it’s because so many live in nations like Australia, our beautiful and peaceful part of the planet, that this opinion is so strongly supported. Perhaps, our worry-free lifestyles on this
Research ethics are concerned with analysing moral issues that are raised when people are participants in primary research. The objective of being ethical is to protect participants in research, through examining the ethical soundness of all aspects of research taking place (Miller et al. 2012). The research should be conducted in a way which has no effect on the welfare of participants. Aubrey (2000 p.156 cited in Mukerhji & Albon 2010 p.34) defines ethics as “a set of moral principles underpinning a project’. This includes, analysing risk factors, protecting confidentiality and having informed consent (Oliver 2010).
I have had the opportunity to read a variety of articles about ethical guidelines for research studies and I found The Tuskegee Syphilis Study to be the most interesting. The Tuskegee Syphilis Study took place in Tuskegee, Alabama were African-American men were chosen to participate in a study which was supposed to help discover the effects of untreated syphilis (Smolin 2012). The purpose of this study was to find African-American males who were in the second stage of syphilis, and then occasionally complete examinations on the men to help determine the effects that the
The topic for the debate was whether human experimentation is ethical or unethical. I am the pointer for the objecting side. “Medical ethics is the moral conduct and principles that govern members of the medical profession.” Researchers and doctors are putting peoples life at risk just to save the next person, which does not show moral judgment and values. There are many unethical experiments that have been happening over the course of many years.
Ethical principles include Honesty, Objectivity, Integrity, Carefulness, Openness, Respect for Intellectual Property, Confidentiality. Ethics plays a very important role in many phases of the research process.
Our history has plenty of examples of ethical violations in clinical research. It wasn’t until 1906 that the Pure Food and Drug Act was passed and started the road to protecting human participants in research. Before then, there were no regulations regarding the ethical usage of humans in research. There are several cases of what you could call unethical medical research studies in our history. From 1932-1972, the Tuskegee Syphilis Study (which was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health), studied the effects of untreated syphilis in 400 African American men by withholding treatment. The subjects were not even told that they were in an experiment and most of the subjects believed that they were getting treated for “bad blood”. During World War 2, concentration camp prisoners were conducted upon by the German scientists for research. On December 9, 1946, 23 scientists and administrators were put on trial for allowing these crimes against humanity and war crimes. The
According to Merriam-Webster ethics is an area of study that deals with philosophies around what is good and bad behavior and what is morally right or wrong (Definition of, n.d.). In a generic sense it is the common comprehension of what constitutes proper behavior, basically doing the right thing. Behavior is connected to three things: the favorableness felt towards the behavior, social pressures concerning the behavior, and the awareness about the capability to carry out the behavior (Chatterjee, Suprateek, & Valacich, 2015, p. 53). There are several professional associations required by law to have clear-cut guidelines governing ethical codes of behavior in their work environment. Physicians and lawyers and other professionals who can have an impact on other individual’s lives receive formal training concerning communal ethical issues in their occupation. If any of these professionals commit any type of flagrant ethical violation they can be removed from their
Experimental research is sometimes done with risk of harming the subjects under study. In a research study, participants could be physically and emotionally harmed. As nurses, we are advocates for our patients. Therefore, our goal is to protect them from any harm and discomfort when they participate in experimental treatment. Many dilemmas arise when trying to determine the level where an experimental treatment becomes harmful. In the past, researchers conducted unethical experiments without the subjects’ informed consent. They conducted experiments on human subjects knowing the high potential for harm. Participants received harmful substances without their knowledge and did not receive treatment (Grove, Gray, & Burns, 2015). Researchers coerced, misinformed, and forced human subjects to participate in experimental research. Groves et al. (2015) reported few events from the past that displayed a breach of the participants’ privacy, confidentiality, and freedom. Rodriguez and Garcia (2013) also reported a study where American scientists infected a specific population in Guatemala with sexually transmitted diseases such as syphilis and gonorrhea. American researchers conducted unethical experiments on human subjects without proper informed consent and clearly caused harm to mentally and socially vulnerable participants. The American researchers carefully selected a segment of the Guatemalan population based on poverty level and mental capacity. They did not inform the
Ethics is a part of every society and is entwined in every aspect of daily living, however the meaning of ethics or what is ethical differs. Ethics is commonly associated with morality and Webster’s New world Dictionary defines ethical as “conforming to the standards of conduct of a given profession or group.” Knowing what a particular society considers ethical and unethical is what contributes to living successfully in that society. This is the same for researchers; researchers need to be aware of what is considered ethical and unethical conduct of scientific inquiry.