Right To Self-Determination Case Study

Superior Essays
An ethical Issue of Right to Self-Determination
In the profession of nursing, we as nurses must maintain the integrity, and respect the rights of human subjects. As a nurse, we must understand the ethical principles to promote patient safety, quality of care and avoid errors. One of the protecting human subject’s rights includes the right to self- determination. According to Burns and Grove (2011) “The right to self- determination is based on the ethical principle of respect for persons, and it indicates that human are capable of controlling their own destiny. The researchers treat subjects as autonomous agents in a study if the researcher has (1) informed them about the study, (2) allowed them to choose whether to participate, and (3) allowed
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Both studies were conducted on African Americans. The study of Tuskegee Syphilis took place in a small town of Tuskegee, Alabama in 1932. The study was initiated in the Macon county of Alabama because most of the cases were identified in this state. A total of 600 African American men were included in the study, out of this group, 399 men were the part of the experimental group and the other 201 men were the control group subjects. All these participants came from poor society and were not educated. In fact, when this study was initially conducted, there was no treatment for syphilis, but, when the treatment of penicillin became available for syphilis; the participants were still left untreated. In reality, the researcher wanted to see the natural progression of the syphilis disease in African American men. Thus, they did not treat the participants who were infected with syphilis. According to Burns and Grove (2011), “Information about an effective treatment for syphilis was withheld from the subjects and deliberate steps were taken to deprive them of treatment” (pg.106). Therefore, the study of Tuskegee Syphilis by the public health services led to an abuse of the participants by the …show more content…
Everyone should be able to make their own choices and decisions and live their life without any external control. Secondly, respect the ethical principle of beneficence, which refers to minimizing the risks of harm and maximize the benefits. Third, everyone should receive justice that they all should receive equal benefits and be treated fairly by others. In summary, the study of Tuskegee and the study of Henrietta lacked all these basic ethical principles because the researchers not only violated the rights of human subjects, but the participants were also abused by the researchers. Therefore, we as nurses must maintain the integrity, and respect the rights of human subjects. Thus, it is very essential to inform the participants that the research has been reviewed and approved by an Institutional Review Board. So, they will feel more confident that it is ethical and the people who participate will receive the fair treatment. Overall, every one of us, regardless of race, age or gender deserves the right of justice, fair treatment, respect and beneficence; and right to

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