Question

Discuss the ethical principles described in both the Belmont Report and C.F.R. 46 “the Common Rule.” A. What are the principles and how are they designed to protect subjects in research? In your discussion, include examples of how the principles were violated in research studies such as The Nazi experiments and the Tuskegee Syphilis study.

Answer 1

The Belmont Report and the ‘Common Rule’ of C.F.R 46 describe some principles and ethical codes of conduct in research. These principles include:

1. boundaries between biomedical and behavioral research and accepted practice of medicines not to be violated
2. the risk-benefit criteria are to be measured to determine the appropriateness of research involving human subjects
3. appropriate guidelines are to be set for the selection of human subjects for research
4. informed consent is to be taken for research before involving human participants.

In both the Nazi experiments and Tuskegee Syphilis study, the human was taken as subjects without any informed consent or misinformed regarding the experiments. In Nazi experiments, the human participants were medically tortured in the name of doctor experiments in concentration camps during World War II and Holocaust period. Those experimentations lead to death, permanent damage of organs, physical and/or mental disability and diseases for lifetime. In the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, the participants were misinformed regarding the duration and nature of the study. They were kept untreated even when the medicines were available and the study continued without their consent and knowledge causing permanent damage of a whole race of people with Syphilis. Thus, in both of the cases the primary ethical guidelines of research of informed consent, risk-benefit criteria of research, accepted medical practice and appropriate medical guidelines were violated.