Book contents
- Frontmatter
- PART I AN INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY OF MEDICAL ETHICS
- PART II A CHRONOLOGY OF MEDICAL ETHICS
- PART III DISCOURSES OF MEDICAL ETHICS THROUGH THE LIFE CYCLE
- PART IV THE DISCOURSES OF RELIGION ON MEDICAL ETHICS
- PART V THE DISCOURSES OF PHILOSOPHY ON MEDICAL ETHICS
- PART VI THE DISCOURSES OF PRACTITIONERS ON MEDICAL ETHICS
- PART VII THE DISCOURSES OF BIOETHICS
- PART VIII DISCOURSES ON MEDICAL ETHICS AND SOCIETY
- Ethical and Legal Regulation of Medical Practice and Research
- 46 The Medical Market place, the Patient, and the Absence of Medical Ethics in Early Modern Europe and North America
- 47 The Legal and Quasilegal Regulation of Practitioners and Practice in the United States
- 48 The Ethics of Experimenting on Animal Subjects
- 49 The Ethics of Experimenting on Human Subjects
- 50 The Historical Development of International Codes of Ethics for Human Subjects Research
- 51 International Ethics of Human Subjects Research in the Late Twentieth Century
- B Medical Ethics, Imperialism, and the Nation-State
- C Medical Ethics and Health Policy
- Appendix: Biographies: Who Was Who in the History of Medical Ethics
- Bibliography
- Index
51 - International Ethics of Human Subjects Research in the Late Twentieth Century
from Ethical and Legal Regulation of Medical Practice and Research
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 May 2012
- Frontmatter
- PART I AN INTRODUCTION TO THE HISTORY OF MEDICAL ETHICS
- PART II A CHRONOLOGY OF MEDICAL ETHICS
- PART III DISCOURSES OF MEDICAL ETHICS THROUGH THE LIFE CYCLE
- PART IV THE DISCOURSES OF RELIGION ON MEDICAL ETHICS
- PART V THE DISCOURSES OF PHILOSOPHY ON MEDICAL ETHICS
- PART VI THE DISCOURSES OF PRACTITIONERS ON MEDICAL ETHICS
- PART VII THE DISCOURSES OF BIOETHICS
- PART VIII DISCOURSES ON MEDICAL ETHICS AND SOCIETY
- Ethical and Legal Regulation of Medical Practice and Research
- 46 The Medical Market place, the Patient, and the Absence of Medical Ethics in Early Modern Europe and North America
- 47 The Legal and Quasilegal Regulation of Practitioners and Practice in the United States
- 48 The Ethics of Experimenting on Animal Subjects
- 49 The Ethics of Experimenting on Human Subjects
- 50 The Historical Development of International Codes of Ethics for Human Subjects Research
- 51 International Ethics of Human Subjects Research in the Late Twentieth Century
- B Medical Ethics, Imperialism, and the Nation-State
- C Medical Ethics and Health Policy
- Appendix: Biographies: Who Was Who in the History of Medical Ethics
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
INTRODUCTION
The development of codes of research ethics is described in Chapter 50. This chapter will focus on an analysis of the content of four official codes of research ethics from transnational governmental and legal authorities and from transnational medical organizations, rather than on codes developed by groups of private individuals and scholars. These documents have exerted and continue to exert considerable influence on both research ethics and the conduct of research involving human subjects. The emphasis in this analysis will be on codes concerning research on human subjects in general with occasional reference to issues involving special classes of subjects.
THE NUREMBERG CODE
As described in Chapters 34, 36, 50, 53, and 54, in the immediate aftermath of World War Ⅱ, a series of military tribunals were convened to pass judgment on those Germans accused of war crimes and atrocities, including medical war crimes. In its final judgment concerning the medical war crimes, the Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal asserted, “all agree, however, that certain basic principles must be observed in order to satisfy moral, ethical and legal concepts.”(Katz 1972, 305) It then listed ten basic principles, most having to do with risks and benefits. Principle One, the principle of voluntary informed consent, is widely viewed, however, as the Nuremberg Code's most important contribution:
The voluntary consent of the human subject is absolutely essential.
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- Information
- The Cambridge World History of Medical Ethics , pp. 576 - 580Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2008