The Ethics of Using Data Obtained Through Controversial Means to Further Current Research
Research is the systematic investigation into and study of materials and sources in order to establish facts and reach new conclusions. Most people would agree that research for example, scientific research, should only be done under the assumption that it is for the advancement of humanity. Most people would also agree that the data obtained should be used for good and that there is no ethical alternative. Given this, my question is: How is it ethical to not use data, that’s already there, for good? This question is not necessarily the question over which many people have argued and continue to argue over. Rather, the question of debate happens to
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In addressing these questions, it is necessary to address a few points of interest. Firstly, an ethical approach must be decided upon. We will choose a consequentialist approach and not a deontological approach. This is because the topic is about doing good using data. Therefore, the consequences matter and as a result, must be taken into account in ethically justifying certain attitudes towards our questions. We will also define our consequentialist approach as one dictating that an action is morally right, or ethical, if it leads to a greater balance of good over evil (1st postulate) and maximises the good that it causes (2nd postulate). This is equivalent to stating that it would, in theory, be unethical to choose to do less good than one is capable of. Second of all, a scope should be decided upon. This essay will focus on the ethics in general and in relation to Nazi medical research.
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
3.) In your opinion, how should the data be used that is obtained from an unethical experiment and how can we prevent this from happening again?
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.
She describes how Nazi Doctors would conduct horrendous experiments on Jews, such as dissecting living people, without receiving any consent from them. She then explains that the Nuremberg code was later established to prevent such inhumane experiments. Since the code didn’t apply in America, researches like Southam and Mandel continued their experiments without informed consent. However, other doctors still found this to be immoral, and refused to participate in performing these experiments finding that, “Injecting cancer cells into a person without consent was a clear violation of basic human rights and Nuremberg code” (Skloot 132). Skloot compares the practice of American doctors to the inhumane experiments conducted on the Jews in Germany to have the readers see similarity between the immoral methods. Both practices did not receive consent from their patients. She uses research to find factual evidence about practices without consent that were made illegal in another country. By comparing the experiments conducted by American doctors to an extreme event, she leads the reader to develop the opinion that all practices without the consent of the patient are unjust. She includes the opinions of medical professionals to express their concern for these methods to the readers. A doctor from that time would have the greatest insight on the experiments that were being conducted and the practicality of them. The reader then sees it as logical that conducting potentially dangerous experiments without any consent is a violation of human rights.
Through the ages, men have been able to find cures for catastrophic diseases through scientific research. Thanks to these advances, men have been able to prolong the life span of people, or provide better quality of life in cases in which a cure of various maladies has not been possible. To achieve such progresses, scientists have made use of prior knowledge, new theories, and technology obtaining numerous prodigious outcomes. Unfortunately, there have been many who have used questionable means for such ends. The German Max Clara is another case of a man with power and knowledge of science, who has misusing them. This paper aims to briefly identify principles and standards that would have been violated these days according to the existing APA Code of Ethics. Finally, ethical implications of making a moral judgment on past actions by researchers regarding human experimentation are discussed.
It has been claimed that decisions concerning scientific research topics and the publication of research results are purely methodological, and that any moral considerations refer only to research methods and uses of acquired knowledge. The arguments advanced in favor of this view appeal to the moral neutrality of scientific knowledge and the intrinsic value of truth. I argue that neither is valid. Moreover, I show three cases where a scientist’s decision to begin research clearly bears moral relevance: (1) when starting an inquiry would create circumstances threatening some non-cognitive values; (2) when achieving a certain piece of knowledge would threaten the existence of the individual’s
This section of Chalmers’ book makes the reader ponder the morality of medical experiments like abortions, stem cell research, and infanticide in the world today and questions whether we have learned from Nazi medical experiments in the past.
“I will remember that there is an art to medicine as well as a science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon’s knife and the chemist’s drug.” (Louis Lasagna). However, the doctors of the holocaust didn’t care, and used the victims as guinea pigs for the results. The medical experiments performed during the Holocaust had horrific outcomes for those experimented upon.
In the field of medicine, clinical trials are known to be a reliable source of information. Although ethical issues do arise, to which the theory of equipoise was proposed, which states that there should be a balance of forces of interests (Weijer et al., 95). There are two types of equipoise; clinical and theoretical. Clinical equipoise is the assignment of multiple treatments to be tested on patients with the disagreement in the medical community in which medical professionals have differing views that one treatment is better than the others (Weijer et al., pg. 97). Theoretical equipoise is between a physician and researcher and the belief that the risks and benefits of the treatments are in perfect balance (Wiejer et al., 96). The differing factor of the two, being that clinical equipoise focuses on the difference in views of certain treatments involving much of the medical community to form an insightful conclusion on the procedure to which the evidence supporting each treatment does not have to be balanced, whereas theoretical equipoise focuses on the equal amount of risks and benefits within each treatment (Weijer et al., 97). With that being said I personally believe researchers must be in a state of clinical equipoise to run morally acceptable clinical trials.
However, even with progression in the medical community, the question of research and the goals of it are still rocky. I submit that society often feels that medical researchers are often simply out to have a claim to fame or acquire significant money. Many individuals feel more like a test subject rather than a human being that can help benefit others. This stigma plagues the decisions of many patients in medical situations. Therefore, there is a drastic account of mistrust in the medical community from an individual in society. Kristin, you supported this by noting how Skloot (2010) showed evidence that patient’s care less about financial gain from use of their tissue, as they are concerned more with the manner their tissue is used. I
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
During the Nazi Party’s rise to power, it held a strong influence on not only the German people, but as well as all of conquered Europe. It was able to coerce regular citizens into joining one of the most destructive genocides recorded in history by turning them into antisemites, and, in some regards, murderers. It is important to learn from history about the power a government has over the influence of their citizens, particularly in the field of medicine. The main purpose of this paper is to describe the Nazi party’s role in the development and research German medicine, specifically on: the physicians, that became loyal to the state rather than their patients; eugenics, in which the goal was to spawn a ‘master race’; human experimentation, which was done on whoever the state deemed undesirable; and, finally, racial purification, the elimination of individuals that the state believed lead a ‘life unworthy of life’.This paper does not note all of the experiments, victims, perpetrators involved or the locations in which the ‘medical’ atrocities were carried out. It will focus mainly on the idea of racial purification, specifically in Auschwitz-Birkenau, the main extermination camp, providing the accounts of several victims that were subject to the medical experiments, and addressing the medical community, specifically Dr. Josef Mengele, as perpetrators of the genocide of millions of people.
There are many ethical issues in the healthcare field. These issues range from insurance coverage, senior care, childhood immunizations, beneficence, abortion, medicinal marijuana, honesty and medical research (Fritzsche, D., 2004). Today we will discuss the ethical concerns in only one aspect of heath care and that topic is research (Benatar, S., 2000). Medical research is necessary in order to make strides in health care, introduce new medications, to discover new symptoms and disorders and to test new treatment options for current medical problems. Students of medicine, universities and pharmaceutical companies conduct this research primarily. Much of this research is time consuming and costly, therefore obtaining funding is not
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
Main ethical violations in clinical research that contribute to the abuse of subjects include paternalism, informed consent, lack of ethical supervision and the avoidance of legislation in relation to the ethics of health care and research. Human rights has been widely violated throughout history as seen in multiple events. As early as the 1930’s, researchers involved in the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, withheld information and treatment from a large group of African American men with syphilis. Following this tragic event, Nazi concentration camps were established. German scientists conducted research with the involvement of the prisoners. Disfigurement, disabilities and death were often the results of the Nazi human experimentation. During the creation of the atomic bomb, the United States government sponsored the research of the involvement of subjects being exposed to radiation without their informed consent. In addition, James Watson and Francis Crick obtained their data of x-ray
When the service providers are having this information then they can provide good quality service to the patients. Some of the disadvantage associated with these data sets is the misuse of the data sets. The staff members can use this information for their personal purposes which can lead to some ethical