The Ethics of Medical Research on Humans

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The ethics behind human research has been an ongoing debate for many years. How far can we take research in the name of science? Does it matter how many or who possibly gets effected along the way ? This journal addresses these questions along with others, as it expresses human rights when medical research is involved. While examining the history of medicine, you find that the United States and many other countries, fail to protect those that can not protect themselves by conducting “medical research” errors. Who is to blame? It is almost impossible for an individual to take a medication and be cured with no side effects. Yet, the demand and expectation for such a miracle drug is so pressing. If medical research had not been conducted, the progress we have seen today would not exists. With the help of court rulings and the tragic deaths of thousands of individuals, their have been set rules that must be followed when someone’s life hangs in your hand, in the name of medicine. Authors T. Iacono and R. Carling-Jenkins did an exceptional job by appealing to the readers pathos, as they open up about the uneasy times of the Third Reich and use of claims of fact within those troublesome times and the effects on our society today. The Third Reich was an unsettling period in history that shaped how research is conducted today. It was an unethical display of medical research that took place from 1931 until the end of World War II. Iacono and Jenkins explain that “ approximately 400,000 people with various types of disabilities were forcibly sterilized to prevent their procreation, using inhumane experimental procedures” (Iacono, 1123). Such procedures would include the exposure of reproductive parts of women and men to x-rays and high ... ... middle of paper ... ...at is being conducted is of value, and if the goals of the researcher(s) are clearly stated. It has brought a voice to the participants, allowing them to weigh out the possible benefits and losses of being experimental ginny pigs. Iacono and Jenkins allow you to see the growth in ethical concern the world has undergone by using emotional facts. They have done an exceptional job at convincing myself, as the reader, of the concerns surrounding medical research and have forced the accountability from experimenters to take responsibility and show where their moral obligations stand. Works Cited Iacono, T., and R. Carling-Jenkins. "The Human Rights Context For Ethical Requirements For Involving People With Intellectual Disability In Medical Research." Journal Of Intellectual Disability Research 56.11 (2012): 1122-1132. CINAHL Plus with Full Text. Web. 21 Jan. 2014.

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