Posted: September 3rd, 2022

Ethics in Human Experimentation

Ethics in Human Experimentation
Human subject research entails the use of human beings as subjects in both medical and non-medical experimentation. Its main aim is to collect data, analyze it, and use the conclusions to improve care. Humans are the source of the data. The United States has a National Research Act that contains ethical guidelines on how to handle human participants during biomedical research. They guide researchers during clinical trials.
Human subjects are involved in various types of researches, such as experimentation of new drugs, vaccines, and surveys. They fill in questionnaires and respond to interviews. Human participants should have informed consent. The researchers should ensure they inform the subjects on what the research is all about, tests to conduct, the duration and risks and benefits.
They should uphold respect for the subject and avoid any physical, mental, and emotional harm. In case the participant gets injured, the researchers should compensate them. They should also maintain human dignity and bodily integrity. Participants should have the right to accept to participate or discontinue in the research.
The informed consent should be in written form. Researchers should maintain the privacy and confidentiality of the participants. They should select human subjects fairly without discrimination based on race, sexual orientation, and ethnic group. Justice should always prevail; the researchers should inform the participants of the outcomes of the research, both good and bad.
The issue of the ethics of human experimentation has gathered interest from lawyers, policymakers, scientists, and even medical practitioners. Failure to abide by these ethical guidelines can lead to the filing of lawsuits against researchers in a court of law. They should, therefore, ensure the autonomy of the participant and practice beneficence.
Several incidences in the past prompted the enactment of ethics that protect human participants during experimentation. The Nuremberg Code, which introduced the aspect of informed consent, was enacted in 1947. That was after German physicians were prosecuted as war criminals due to conducting deadly experiments on some prisoners of war. The Nuremberg Code was enacted to protect soldiers, patients, and prisoners from being subjected to experimentation without their consent.
Abuses of human experiments are common. Researchers need to understand they are dealing with human beings and not animals. They should, therefore, respect their bodies and minimize physical and psychological risks. Researchers should explain in detail what the research is all about and give the participant a chance to choose whether to participate or not.
References
Rothman, David J. “Ethics and human experimentation.” New England journal of medicine 317.19 (1987): 1195-1199.
PP, RICKHAM. “Human experimentation. Code of ethics of the world medical association. Declaration of Helsinki.” British medical journal 2.5402 (1964): 177-177.

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