Was The Havasupai Study Ethical?

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Havasupai Research Ethics – Paper

Prompt: Was the Havasupai study ethical? Why or why not? What role did race, class, and historical trauma have to do with the study? What effects has this study had on AI/AN and other minority populations? Use the articles form the readings and/or other sources to support your position. (2-3 pages single spaced)

Medical research has had many blunders over the course of time. When history looks back at the previous events that occurred, the viewers question how this was even possible. The case of HeLa cells from Henrietta Lacks or the Tuskegee experiments come to mind. How were we as a society capable of allowing such events to occur? How did we justify them? To what did we measure our ethics with? The problems …show more content…

To consider something ethical, it must be relatable to what is morally good and that does not harm others. While the definition of ethics may be universal, the rules of it are not. They can vary, and because they can vary, they may be applied in a way that may be advantageous to one party and disadvantageous to another. This was done very clearly by the researchers in the Havasupai studies. Many protocols refer to physical risks of harm and do not entail psychosocial risks into their umbrella. (Drabiak-Syed, p. 205) This seems as if an IRB (referring to the ASU IRB) has a set of rules that do not govern ethics, but govern liability and constraints. The inability to address cultural and psychosocial measures or the concerted effort not to do so, shows the complete disregard for such harm. It disregards the mental anguish and possible embarrassment that the study participants may feel. These possible harms included possibly being dubbed descriptive adjectives like “crazy” or publishing beliefs that contradict culture and religion in the context of the tribe and their origins. (Drabiak-Syed, p. 217-218) The Havasupai tribe did not agree to any research outside of diabetes, and doing so without their permission while utilizing their blood is simply unethical. It robs them of consent and rips away power over their own …show more content…

(Drabiak-Syed, p. 181) This was an act of deception for personal gain. While there may have been a written contract, it failed to meet the element of acceptance on part of the Havasupai tribe. Acceptance being that the person who was offered the contract must be made aware of it, accepted it under reasonable circumstances, and has the intention to accept it. (US Legal,

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