Ethical Principles
In actuality, the development of researches and experiments is, to a significant
extent, defined by ethical principles which play a very important role in the
contemporary medicine and researches. The basic ethical principles were defined
by Belmont Report and these principles are often viewed as guidelines for the
conducting of ethically plausible scientific researches and experiments, especially
in the field of medicine. At the same time, it is very important to understand
the essence of these principles in order to follow them respectively to their
original sense and in order to minimize the possibility of the violation of
ethical norms and principles, which is absolutely unacceptable in the healthcare
system.
First of all, it should be said that one of the primary concerns of researches
and healthcare professionals was and still is the respect for persons which
are involved in experiments, researches or treatments. What is meant here is
the fact that researchers should respect autonomy of the subjects and take into
consideration their position in relation to experiments. In other words, researchers
cannot impose their will on the subject or force them to get involved into the
experiment or research (Mossman, 1997). Instead, researchers have to receive
a conscious consent of the subject and, what is more, it is very important that
relatives of the subject were also informed about the research and experiment
and they should not oppose to the involvement of the subject into the experiment.
Otherwise, the research or experiment will be arguable from the ethical point
of view since without consent of the subject, researchers have no moral or ethical
right to conduct a research or experiment.
Furthermore, researchers should take into consideration all possible risks the
subject of the research or experiment can face in the process of the realization
of the project of the research. Naturally, it may be difficult to identify the
major threats to the subject of the research if some innovative technology or
medicament is involved, but still the research should conduct the experiment
with a minimal risk to the health and life of the patient (Dickman, 2000). In
actuality, there should be a little room for doubt of the research because if
the researcher is not sure in the safety of the outcomes of the experiment for
the health of the subject, he or she should delay the realization of the experiment
until creating safer conditions for its practical implementation.
Finally, researches should be just. What is meant here is the fact that researchers
should not view the subject as a material they can use in abundance in their
experiments. This principle is particularly important in relation to experiments
involving humans. In such a situation, researchers must be absolutely sure that
there are no alternatives to the experiment involving humans (Scalise, 2002).
Otherwise, the experiment would be ethically unjust and not motivated by just
reasons.
Thus, in conclusion, it should be said that basic ethical principles focus the
attention of researches on respect for persons, involved in experiments, beneficence
of experiments, and justice of experiments.
References:
Dickman, R. L. (2000, March). Bending the rules to get a medication. American
Family Physician 61 (5), 1563.
Mossman, K. L. (1997). Medical testing: Issues and ethics. Forum for Applied
Research and Public Policy 12 (3), 90.
Scalise, D. (2002) CPOE: Is it worth it? Hospitals & Health Networks, 76(1).
Shane, R. (2002) Computerized physician order entry: Challenges and opportunities.
American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy, 59(3), 286-288
Taylor, R. et al. (2002) Quantifying value for physician order-entry systems:
A balance of cost and quality. Healthcare Financial Management, (7), 44-48.
