The author notes that a conference on conflicts of interest in medical research has yielded evidence of questionable practices between the industry and researchers who test drugs or medical devices. It appears that money in medical research speaks as loudly as it did more than seventy years ago.
Nevertheless, the author also cites an indication by the health department to the effect that it is aware of the mistrust cultivated by its research practices. There is a need for reestablishing the public trust in the medical profession as it relates to research and in the benefits of such research for the general community. This is also something that management officials need to emphasize in their work. Managers need to help their medical institutions to establish a sense of trust in the public mind. In this, publishing research experiments and results, together with their findings, could be a beneficial idea. Another good way in which to reach the public via publication is by means of the Internet. This will ensure that both the public and the research participants remain fully informed regarding research. Full disclosure in such a manner will further encourage public trust.
Ethical issues in medicine are not only complicated, but often also controversial. In cases where human experimentation are concerned, extra care should be taken to avoid not only liability, but also a violation of public trust. As seen with the...
And indeed, often such trust is violated for good. Critical issues such as AIDS are still languishing from the results of the Tuskegee fiasco.
Medical institution management and ethics committees should collaborate to apply an ethical policy to every case where experimentation on human beings is at issue. It should also be ensured that all other avenues of research have been exhausted, including research documents and laboratory work involving animals - also according to the applicable set of ethical guidelines. In the democratic and free world we like to believe that we live in today, surely the guidelines for the ethical treatment of all living things should be clearer than ever before. Surely medical practitioners can appreciate the necessity of respect for individuals and their rights.
Sources
Hilts, Philip J. (2000, Aug 17). Medical-Research Official Cites Ethics Woes. New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9405E3D7173EF934A2575BC0A9669C8B63&n=Top/News/Science/Topics/Research
Tuskegee University (2007). Research Ethics: The Tuskegee Syphilis Study. http://www.tuskegee.edu/Global/Story.asp?s=1207598
The World Medical Association (2004, Oct 9). Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects. http://www.wma.net/e/policy/b3.htm
