Investigators' responsibilities for human subjects in developing countries

Article Abstract:

Patients who volunteer to be part of a research study should be given the same level of care no matter where the study takes place. A study published in 2000 followed several hundred Ugandan couples, of which one partner was HIV-positive, to study the heterosexual transmission of HIV. However, the HIV-positive partner was not treated, nor were many of the participants treated for other sexually transmitted diseases. This study probably could not have been done in the US for ethical reasons.

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The Nazi hypothermia experiments and unethical research today

Article Abstract:

There has been debate for nearly 50 years about whether data from the experiments done on prisoners in Nazi concentration camps should be used. Some feel that use of the data would minimize the horror of what happened, dishonor those who died, and even encourage unethical research. Others feel that use of the results could redeem even small benefits from the nightmare and that the data could be used to save other people's lives. The design and methods of the hypothermia experiments performed by the Nazis in the Dachau concentration camp was reviewed by R. L. Berger. The raw data had been destroyed by the Nazis at the end of World War II, therefore, the only available data consists of accounts sent to the director of the experiments. This data shows that the experiments were poorly designed and not properly conducted. There are contradictory results and some results were probably made up. It was concluded that the experiments are scientifically worthless. Because of the unacceptable scientific quality of the experiments, debate on whether these experiments should be used is, in a way, ended. However, there have been other incidences of unethical experimentation on humans. Unethical research is not common today, as the medical and scientific community is committed to protect human rights in experimentation. Unethical research includes the use of placebos in a clinical trial, when it is thought that the treated group will do better and when consent is obtained without really giving patients all the information. This type of unethical research is sometimes encouraged by emphasizing the necessity of scientific rigor. The New England Journal of Medicine will not publish reports containing unethical research. It is felt that publication would encourage further unethical research. (Consumer Summary produced by Reliance Medical Information, Inc.)

Reports, Hypothermia, Medical ethics, Medicine, Experimental, editorial, Dachau (Concentration camp)

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The ethics of clinical research in the Third World

Article Abstract:

Medical researchers need to follow ethical guidelines proposed in the Nuremberg Code and Declaration of Helsinki even when they conduct the study outside the US. These codes emphasize informed consent and specify that all patients should receive the best possible treatment. In many cases, this means that patients can no longer be given a placebo. Yet that is exactly what is done in many studies of patients in developing countries. Many of these studies would never be approved in the US because it would be unethical to use a placebo. Funding agencies also need to enforce these ethical principles.

Clinical trials

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