Informed Consent Ethics
The ethics of informed consent dictate that trials onto human subjects must seek informed consent from the subjects involved. The consent sought must be in the form of full disclosure as to the nature of the research/trial, the expected results, the risks involved, and the long-term consequences (if there are any) of the research ( Lo, 2009) . The paternalistic medics of the time negated the responsibility of consent on the physician in-charge, thus denying the subjects the opportunity to voluntarily accept or reject being part of such a clinical trial ( Steinbock, London, Arras, 2012) . The research failed in its responsibility of full disclosure in an attempt to gain the consent of participation by the subjects that was well informed.
Compliance with the Trial Protocol
Medical research, especially those involving human subjects, are legally expected to adhere to clinical trials protocol. Trial protocol is a legal initiative that ensures that the necessary precautions, through its design, methodology, statistical consideration, and organization of the trial, are taken to protect the subjects involved. The research lacked the compliance needed to assure safety of the trial subjects while at the same time ensure that the integrity of the data collected in guaranteed. Instead, the research only concentrated on fulfilling a medical objective with little regard as to the patients’ rights ( Barber & Lally, 1979) . The medical objective outweighed the value of the patients’ health and life in the manner the research blatantly failed to comply with set research protocols.
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Transparency of the Trial Process
The research was not transparent in its contractual obligation between the subjects and the researchers. The medics of the time dictated that physicians did not owe any form of transparency-responsibility to their patients and as such none was accorded to the subjects involved ( Lo, 2009) . The lack in transparency meant the research did not allocate responsibility of consequences, allowing Dr Southam and his research colleagues to shift the blame of death and that of health deterioration to a superior medical purpose, other than their own ( Steinbock, London, Arras, 2012) .
References
Barber, B., & Lally, J. (1979). Research on Human Subjects: Problems of Social Control in Medical Experimentation . New Jersey: Transaction Publishers.
Lo, B. (2009). Ethical Issues in Clinical Research: A Practical Guide . Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
Steinbock, B., London, A. J., & Arras, J. D. (2012). Ethical issues in modern medicine: Contemporary readings in bioethics (8th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
