Ethics in medical research case studies Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Ethics in medical case studies - Research Paper Example Believing that the procedure would succeed, the researchers strongly stand on their ground that no consent from patients was necessary (Johnmueller.org, 2010). Three years after the incident and after a year of probation of the researchers involved in the incident, one of them was elected president of the American Association for Cancer Research (Johnmueller.org, 2010). The proponent of this paper tries to assess the issues involved in the above case, how they were handled and might have been handled differently. Below are some of the ethical issues involved in the above case. Oral consent but no documentation The researchers were able to point out that oral consents were made but there was no documentation involved due to some certain reasons. This made it clear that the entire research was a one-sided approach which strongly emphasized only the main objectives of the researchers, without taking into account the rights of the respondents. Rules or guidelines on what is right and app ropriate conduct are all incorporated in ethics (Rumrill, Cook, & Wiley, 2011). Thus, there should be appropriate way to conduct research among the chosen respondents especially in medical research. Research involving human subjects includes legal and ethical considerations which primarily include human subjects’ protection, protection of privacy and the disclosure of risks involved (Kulynych, 2002). Furthermore, since 1980s epidemiologists and physicians adhered to the importance of informed consent in certain investigations (Regidor, 2004). In the case of Jewish Chronic Disease Hospital, researchers strongly argued that they were able to inform the respondents through oral consent due to certain reasons. One reason is that the respondents were indigent, which means it would be appropriate to explain everything to them in an oral approach. However, the case of Jewish Chronic Disease Hospital did not only include ethical considerations, but tied in it was legal accountability of the researchers. These two seemed to be integrated in the case of Jewish Chronic Disease Hospital and the researchers involved. Citing the significance of informed consent, the researchers were able to do at least somewhere in the right thing, but the problem in this approach is the lack of showing some documents to prove that indeed there were oral consents made on the part between the respondents and the researchers. Oral consent was appropriate at some point knowing that it still belongs to the category of informed consent. However, there still something lacking in it in the case of therapeutic research where there seems to some remarkable risks involved. Consent should be highly documented in this case so whatever may happen, there would be some legal basis that will point out to adherence to the ethical standards. Custom to perform dangerous medical procedures without consent As stated earlier, in medical research, the respondents have the right to express their consent in certain research investigations. This is considered to be sound and ethical especially if it has to be applied in the case of Jewish Chronic Disease Hospital. However, the said hospital had certain customary procedure that in the event of performing dangerous medical procedures, consent from patients or respondents will not be necessary because it can be waved. In fact, this is supported by some legal and ethical standard that at some point, the