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 Research
ethics became of supreme importance after the post-World War II
Nuremberg Trial. The atrocities committed by Nazi doctors in
the name of research stimulated the development of a code to
protect research subjects.
An American federal commission later
developed the
Belmont Report, which describes ethical principles to be
maintained while conducting clinical research. These principles
are used in balance of each other, and encapsulate the
recommendations of the
Nuremberg Code.
Respect for Persons
Respect for autonomy is to be pursued at all
times. This entails treating individuals as autonomous agents
and protecting those with diminished autonomy. Research subjects
must have the opportunity to freely choose what shall or shall
not happen to them; this is most readily provided by a proper
informed consent procedure.
Beneficence
Ethical treatment of research participants
requires making efforts to secure their well being. This entails
doing no harm, and maximizing benefits while minimizing harm.
The balance of harms and benefits must be systematic and
nonarbitrary.
Justice
Benefits and harms must be fairly
distributed. An injustice occurs when a benefit, to which a
person is entitled, is denied without good reason or when some
burden is unduly imposed. No group of persons can be assigned a
disproportionate amount of risk or benefit unless for reasons
directly related to the problem being studied. Research
supported by public funds must provide evenly distributed
advantages.
The full ramifications of these principles can be found in the
complete
Belmont Report, which is linked to the HRPO website. Similar
and more specific recommendations were made by an international
commission, presented in the
Declaration of Helsinki.
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