Every year people all over the world face new health challenges, whether physical or mental. Medical practice and research have been able to study the nature, symptoms, and effects of many different ailments. Through these efforts is that scientists are able to find remedies to the emerging health ailments. Additionally, researchers and health professionals often use human beings as subjects of investigation, which raises some ethical concerns. Over the last couple of decades, researchers and health professionals have made improvements to the way they conduct experiments. Ethical concerns were rarely addressed many years ago during the Tuskegee syphilis study. The Tuskegee syphilis study, “Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro
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Paternalistic ideals are seen when an individual overrides another person’s preference or actions with the overall goal of aiding them or preventing possible harm to them. One of the many justifications that health professionals have for using paternalistic views on a patient’s healthcare is the fact that patients are not knowledgeable enough to make medical decisions. This is the error that researchers from the Tuskegee study committed. The researchers from the study failed to inform the participants of the dangerous medical measures that were taking place. Researchers did not view the participants as autonomous agents capable of making rationale medical decisions. The doctors should have informed the patients of their medical status and made them aware of the medical measures and consequences. The study was intended to find the cure to syphilis, but instead, the researchers chose to study other factors of syphilis that were unnecessary with the intent to save lives. Nevertheless, the priority to save lives can never come over the patient’s autonomy. Paternalism can make research studies demanding instead of making them voluntary experimentation for the patients. Therefore, it is essential for healthcare professionals to avoid paternalism during research studies involving human subjects so that the principle of autonomy and informed consent can be …show more content…
Medical researchers may be tempted to employ similar research methods, in their overzealous quest to come up with original scientific findings. Egregious violations of human rights like these resulted, in the United States, in the creation of a National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research. The Commission’s 1979 “Belmont Report” (Department of Health, Education, and Welfare 1979) established three basic ethical principles: Respect for persons, beneficence, and justice. Respect people by treating them as autonomous agents and protecting those with diminished autonomy. Minimize possible harms and maximize benefits of any research study. Distribute the benefits and risks of research fairly. Any institution (researcher or health professional) that seeks federal funding for biomedical or behavioral research on human subjects has an Institutional review board (IRB). The IRB will review the research proposals to ensure that research projects meet all ethical standards and there is no exploitation and human right infringements upon either minority or majority
Paternalistic ideals are seen when an individual overrides another person’s preference or actions with the overall goal of aiding them or preventing possible harm to them. One of the many justifications that health professionals have for using paternalistic views on a patient’s healthcare is the fact that patients are not knowledgeable enough to make medical decisions. This is the error that researchers from the Tuskegee study committed. The researchers from the study failed to inform the participants of the dangerous medical measures that were taking place. Researchers did not view the participants as autonomous agents capable of making rationale medical decisions. The doctors should have informed the patients of their medical status and made them aware of the medical measures and consequences. The study was intended to find the cure to syphilis, but instead, the researchers chose to study other factors of syphilis that were unnecessary with the intent to save lives. Nevertheless, the priority to save lives can never come over the patient’s autonomy. Paternalism can make research studies demanding instead of making them voluntary experimentation for the patients. Therefore, it is essential for healthcare professionals to avoid paternalism during research studies involving human subjects so that the principle of autonomy and informed consent can be …show more content…
Medical researchers may be tempted to employ similar research methods, in their overzealous quest to come up with original scientific findings. Egregious violations of human rights like these resulted, in the United States, in the creation of a National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research. The Commission’s 1979 “Belmont Report” (Department of Health, Education, and Welfare 1979) established three basic ethical principles: Respect for persons, beneficence, and justice. Respect people by treating them as autonomous agents and protecting those with diminished autonomy. Minimize possible harms and maximize benefits of any research study. Distribute the benefits and risks of research fairly. Any institution (researcher or health professional) that seeks federal funding for biomedical or behavioral research on human subjects has an Institutional review board (IRB). The IRB will review the research proposals to ensure that research projects meet all ethical standards and there is no exploitation and human right infringements upon either minority or majority