HSCI705 Discussion Thread Basic Ethical Principles

Analysis of the Basic Ethic Codes

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The phrase “basic ethical principles” refers to those overarching conclusions that act as a foundational rationale for the numerous specific ethical guidelines and assessments of human behavior. Three fundamental principles—respect for people, beneficence, and justice—among those commonly acknowledged in our cultural tradition are particularly important to the ethics of research involving human subjects.

i) Respect

Respect for humans contains two ethical convictions: that individuals should be considered as autonomous agents and that people with diminished agency require protection. Respect for humans is recognizing and defending autonomy.

An autonomous person can set and achieve goals. Respecting autonomy entails assessing people’s views and decisions and not obstructing them unless they hurt others. To disrespect an autonomous agent is to reject their reasoned conclusions, deny them the freedom to act on them, or withhold necessary information without adequate cause.

No one is self-reliant. Some lose self-determination owing to disease, mental disability, or other factors. Respecting immature or disabled people may mean protecting them.

Some people need extensive protection, even to the point of being prohibited from harmful activities; others need little protection beyond ensuring they engage in activities freely and with knowledge of possible risk. Protection should weigh risk and benefit. Situation-based loss of autonomy should be periodically reevaluated.

Respect for persons needs free and informed consent. The principle isn’t always clear. Prison research. Respect for humans involves letting inmates volunteer for studies. In prison, they may be convinced to complete studies they wouldn’t otherwise do. Respect means protecting inmates. “Volunteer” or “defend” inmates is wrong. Respecting others entails weighing respect’s opposing claims.

This basic ethic principle of respect is supported by several biblical verses which include; 1 Peter 2:17, Ephesians 5:33,Ephesians 6:5, just to mention but a few.Informed consent is one of the applications of this ethic code.

ii) Beneficence.

Respecting people’s decisions, protecting them, and ensuring their well-being are ethical behaviors. Kindness. “Beneficence” means charitable activities. This document makes generosity mandatory. Do no harm and maximize benefits and limit negatives are beneficent acts.

Medical ethic: “Do no harm” Claude Bernard applied it to research, claiming that harming one person shouldn’t benefit others. Even preventing injury requires knowing what’s dangerous. The Hippocratic Oath advocates “best judgment” Risk-benefit analysis These imperatives must decide whether to seek rewards despite dangers and when to forfeit them.

Beneficence duties affect both individual researchers and society because they apply to research initiatives and the research economy. Researchers and their institutions must optimize benefits and reduce risk in particular initiatives. In scientific research, society must weigh the long-term benefits and risks of better knowledge and innovative medical, psychological, and social processes.

Benefice warrants human subject research. example Effective techniques to alleviate juvenile diseases and promote healthy growth merit child research, even if participants aren’t immediate beneficiaries. Research prevents harm from seemingly harmless actions. Sometimes beneficence’s role is unclear. More-than-minimal-risk research without direct benefit to children is unethical. Some argue such research is inappropriate, while others say it would hinder future child-friendly research. Different beneficence claims may conflict and force hard choices, as in many complicated cases.

This basic ethic principle is supported by a number of bible verses which include; Leviticus 19/11-18 which states that one should not take revenge on anyone or to continue hating his or her neighbour but instead to love the neighbour as he/she loves herself/himself. Assessment of risks and benefits is one of the applications of beneficence as a basic ethic principle.

iii) Justice

Justice. Who should benefit from research? This is a topic of justice, as in fairness or merit. Injustice occurs when a benefit is unfairly denied or a burden is unfairly inflicted. Justice means treating equals equitably. This claim needs clarification. Who’s equal? What causes inequality? Experience, age, deprivation, aptitude, merit, and position might occasionally require varied treatment for particular goals. Equal treatment must be explained. Various techniques split responsibilities and benefits. Each formulation offers a property on which to allocate responsibilities and benefits. (1) To each person an equal amount, (2) according to necessity, (3) according to work, (4) according to society contribution, and (5) according to merit.

Justice is connected to social processes including punishment, taxation, and political representation. These questions weren’t scientific until lately. First theories on human research ethics foretell them. Poor ward patients were study subjects in the 19th and early 20th centuries, whereas private patients received better treatment. In Nazi concentration camps, using unwilling captives as study subjects constituted a flagrant injustice. In the 1940s, the Tuskegee syphilis study recruited disadvantaged, rural black boys to examine an untreated disease. Long after effective medication became available, these participants were denied it to avoid interrupting the study.

Justice is relevant to human subject research given its historical context. For example, the selection of research subjects must be scrutinized to determine if some classes (e.g., welfare patients, particular racial and ethnic minorities, or persons confined to institutions) are systematically selected because of their easy availability, compromised position, or manipulability, rather than for reasons directly related to the problem being studied. When public-funded research leads to the creation of therapeutic devices and processes, justice requires that they not provide advantages solely to those who can pay them and that such research not unnecessarily engage persons from groups unlikely to benefit from eventual applications.

Several bible verses have served immensely in support of justice as a basic ethic code. They include;Luke 11:42, Micah 6:8, Isaiah 1:17 and Psalm 82:3. choosing the subjects. The principle of justice gives rise to moral requirements that there be fair procedures and outcomes in the selection of research subjects, just as the principle of respect for humans finds expression in the criteria for consent and the principle of beneficence in risk/benefit evaluation.

Justice has an impact on the choice of study topics on both the social and the individual levels. Individual justice in subject selection would call for researchers to act fairly; as a result, they shouldn’t limit potentially helpful research to a small group of patients who are on their side or choose only “undesirable” people for risky studies.

References

Adams, D. P., & Miles, T. P. (2013). The application of Belmont Report principles to policy development. Journal of Gerontological Nursing, 39(12), 16-21.

Miracle, V. A. (2016). The Belmont Report: The triple crown of research ethics. Dimensions of Critical Care Nursing, 35(4), 223-228.