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Biomedical subjects

C D Herrera

Publications and source records attributed to C D Herrera.

11 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2003

Universal compulsory service in medical research.

Despite the prominence of healthcare-related concerns in public debate, the ground remains infertile for the idea of conscripting citizens into medical research. Reluctance to entertain the thought of a system where nearly everyone could be selected for service might reflect uncertainty about what the project would involve. There might also be a fear that the more crucial issue is how to protect research subjects within current, voluntary systems. No doubt reluctance to explore a system of universal service results from the common hope that each of us might avoid research in any capacity besides researcher. A system of full civic participation might, however, avoid many of the usual objections. Ethics regulations, including informed-consent guidelines, could for the most part remain in force. Though the system would compel people to serve, it could remain responsive to principles of autonomy and justice if it centered on broad public education, community representation, and a lottery-type selection process. The system could draw from the largest possible cross-section of society, and offer conscripts the widest possible range of service. In this way, a compulsory system might reconcile the expectations about healthcare with research needs.

Cross-Sectional Studies↗
PubMed2001

Ethics, deception, and 'Those Milgram experiments'.

Critics who allege that deception in psychology experiments is unjustified frequently cite Stanley Milgram's 'obedience experiments' as evidence. These critics say that arguments for justification tend to downplay the risks involved and overstate the benefits from such research. Milgram, they add, committed both sins. Critics are right to point out that research oversight is often susceptible to self-serving abuse. But stating a priori how beneficial a given experiment will be is a tall order for psychologists, or anyone else. At the same time, critics themselves have difficulty in showing what is wrong with deception, and how subjects in these experiments suffer. Hence, it becomes unclear what the psychologists, including Milgram, are prone to downplay. There is also room to wonder how the Milgram studies can illuminate the debate over deception. Although Milgram probably exaggerated the scientific significance of his own work, critics who exaggerate its moral and historical significance do little to clarify the status of deception.

Behavioral Research↗
PubMed1999

Sport medicine and the ethics of boxing.

In the light of medical evidence of the health risks associated with boxing, a watchful agnostic position among sport physicians is no longer justifiable. The normal activity in a boxing match places the athletes at risk of head injury, some of which may be difficult to detect and impossible to repair. This suggests that sport physicians and others expert in the prevention and diagnosis of such injuries should take a public stand against boxing, as other medical associations have. Although there is a need for continuing research into the health risks, doctors can in the interim take steps to increase public awareness of these risks. Sport physicians in particular can make a strong public statement by also ending their professional involvement with boxing. This need not be interpreted as paternalism; doctors are qualified neither to make laws nor to restrict private behaviour. Sport physicians are, however, well equipped to advise those who do make laws and those who choose to engage in boxing. In the end, because this stance against boxing will probably reduce the number of brain injuries in certain athletes, autonomy will be preserved, rather than restricted.

Boxing↗
PubMed1999

Two arguments for 'covert methods' in social research.

In some 'covert' participant-observation studies, social researchers defend their omission of informed consent on the basis of a need to protect subjects from apprehension, nervousness, or even criminal prosecution. In other instances, researchers contend that deception is rampant in society, and that their methods are no more immoral than the behaviour that ordinarily prevails. These defenses of covert methods fail to appreciate the range of risks that may be involved, and in the latter case, fail to show that these methods are in fact morally indistinguishable from the 'deception' that people typically engage in. Ultimately, these proposed defenses of covert methods succeed only in arousing greater concern about informed consent in social research, and the researcher's privilege in bypassing it.

Deception↗
PubMed1997

The other human-subject experiments.

Although deceptive psychology experiments receive less attention than some forms of medical research, they pose similar moral challenges. These challenges mainly concern the use of human subjects and intentional deception. Psychologists provide an argument to justify this deception. But what is an essentially utilitarian argument too often includes faulty comparisons and dubious accounts of risks and benefits. Commentators in other areas of human-subject research might examine this argument and the assumptions behind it. Bioethics commentators seem especially well-positioned for this task.

Behavioral Research↗