Buy essay on Experimentation, Research and Consent

In this research work we will find out what the Belmont report is and of course we will define its role in establishing ethical guidelines for conducting research and experimentation.
Now let us turn to the principles of human research. The concept of research ethics of the human body was influenced by three fruitful documents that relate to the ethical standards. These documents are the Nuremberg Code (1946-49), the Belmont Report (1979) and the Declaration of Helsinki (1964, the correction data was introduced in 2000). Although each of these documents is devoted to individual questions the general guidelines follow from all of them. Ezekiel and others (2003) stated that the scientific experiments, as well as researches, must be of the highest quality. Preliminary experiments on animals should provide useful and promising results. If we apply the method, that does not require experimentation on humans for the achievement of goal; such experiments are not to be conducted.
In 1979, the Belmont report helped to further advance of the process by providing three basic principles guiding the researches from the ethical point of view: respect for persons (autonomy), charity and justice.
The Belmont report is a historical document, which gives a moral view about the use of human experimental studies in the U.S. The author of the Belmont report, under the title “Ethical Principles and Guidelines for the Protection of Human Subjects of Research” is Dan Harms. The report was created by the former United States Department of Health, Education, and Welfare in April 18, 1979. The report examines the general ethical principles that form the basis of reports of the National Commission for the Protection of Rights in biomedical and behavioral research. Beauchamp and Childress (1989) demonstrated the six basic ethical principles that serve as the fundamental basis for many private ethical prescriptions and evaluations of human actions are: respect for the individual, beneficence, justice, fidelity, non-maleficence, veracity.
So let us talk in brief about each of these ethical principles. According to Lolas (2008), the respect for the individual means that all the individuals should be treated as autonomous agents, and people with limited autonomy must be protected. The principle of beneficence tells that while experimenting a person can not be harmed, and the experimenters must do the maximum possible benefits and minimize the possible harm to the person. The principle of justice means that for each person there is an equal share, as it is said: for each person according to his merits. The principle of fidelity states honesty and equity. The principle of non-maleficence tells not to do harm to the subjects. And finally the principle of veracity means that it is important to be honest, not to lie.
While conducting the experiments on people it is important to adhere to certain ethical criteria, such as the voluntary consent of the subject, its capacity to act, the informing of the subject about the aims, methods and possible implications of the experiment. As it was mentioned in Francoer’s (1983) work the experiments should be useful for the society, and this benefit can not be achieved by some other methods. The subject should be free from all the unnecessary physical and mental sufferings and injuries, and the equipment must ensure the protection of subjects from the distant possibility of injury, disability, death. The experiments involving a fatal outcome for the subjects are put under a ban. The possibility of ending the experiment at the request of the subject is also discussed.
As it can be seen from the above, the ethical principles and norms constitute a system which elements are hierarchically organized, balanced and are not logically contradictory. Therefore, they should be used as a system with the regard to their interaction, rather than as isolated fragments, chosen by a specialist depending on his taste. Covering the widest possible field of medical practice, they, however, are sufficiently general to specify only the direction of moral orientation of the doctor. Ethical principles and standards are neither absolute, nor the ones that can be neglected, and their regulating role is in the intermediate zone. They can oblige for benefit of reverse at the absence of arguments; prescribe but not by the absolute power, yet much more effectively than just wishful thinking. That is why the traditional ethical principles and rules form the basis of codes of medical ethics. As for the level of specific ethical decisions in specific situations, there is a great individual diversity. However, it is amenable to structuring with the allocation of typical situations and optimal algorithms for the actions of the doctor. At this level professional and ethical standards of medical help are formed.
So to make a conclusion we should say that the famous principles of bioethics were formulated in the Belmont Report which contains the fundamental ethical principles that form the basis for biomedical and behavioral research involving human subjects. The authors of the report related to them the principle of respect for the individual (respect for person), the principle of benevolence (beneficence) and the principle of fairness (justice). The Belmont report has played a great role in establishing ethical guidelines for conducting research and experimentation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reference
Beauchamp, T. and Childress, J. (1989). Principles of Biomedical Ethics. 3-d ed. N.Y., Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Ezekiel, E. and others. (2003). Ethical and Regulatory Aspects of Clinical Research, Baltimore. London: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Francoer, R. (1983). Biomedical Ethics: A guide to decision making. N.Y., etc.: Wiley.
Lanza, R. and others. (2000). The ethical validity of using nuclear transfer in human transplantation [In Process Citation]. JAMA, 284, 3175-9.
Lolas, F. (2008). “Bioethics and animal research: A personal perspective and a note on the contribution of Fritz Jahr.” Biol. Res., Santiago, 41(1).
The Belmont Report Ethical Principles and Guidelines for the Protection of Human Subjects of Research, April 18, 1979.



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