Ethical Studies



Ethical Studies

Introduction

Ethics are known as a branch of philosophy, which involves the systematizing, recommendation, and defending of the concept of right and wrong behavior. It also deals with the values that relate to the conduct of humans, concerning the right and wrong of situations and specific actions and the motives behind those actions and the consequence of such behavior.

Ethical Principles Presented in the Belmont Report

The National Commission published a report in 1978, which was for the Protection of Human Rights and was based on Biomedical and Behavioral Research. This report was called “Ethical Principles and Guidelines for the Protection of Human Subjects of Research”. It was named Belmont after the Conference Center at where this report was drafted. The University of Wisconsin-Madison has pronounced this report to the basis for ethics for the protection and enforcement of rights of individuals and the welfare of these research subjects. The research subjects, staff, and members of IRB are expected to be aware of the report and its contents.

The report covers three main principals on ethics for all those human subjects who are to be part of research, Respect for subjects, beneficence and justice.

Respect for Subjects

This area covers two ethical convictions. The first is that all people should be treated as independent agents and secondly the individuals with moderate autonomy should be entitled to protection. The requirement should be that the participants take part in the research voluntarily and should be given enough information in a way they can understand and ensure they are not pressured. It has been recommended by the Belmont Report that accurate knowledge should be given to the subjects about the process of the research, the purpose, the risks involved, benefits, alternative processes and opportunity to the individual to ask questions and withdraw from the research at any time. For the second requirement, the report mentions how vulnerable populations are effected and the extent of protection offered to the individuals should be in accordance with the risk of harm and the probability of benefit.

Beneficence 

Individuals are treated in an ethical way have having their decisions honored and them protected from harm by ensuring their welfare. The rules have been designed to formulate as corresponding language of beneficent acts by not harming or minimizing the harm that could possibly come the participant's way.

 Justice

According to the principals of justice, the participants are treated fairly and the ...