Respect for Persons,Beneficence, and Justice :: Research Researching Privacy Essays

Respect for Persons,Beneficence, and Justice In July of 1974 The National Research Act was signed into law. Through this act, The Belmont Report was developed over 4 year period of time that included an intense four day conference followed by monthly meetings until it was completed in April of 1979. The Belmont Report sets out to define the ethical principles and guidelines for the protection of human subjects of research. The report was established prior to Barney Clark and the artificial heart and therefore was the guidelines that the doctors and researchers had to follow. The report highlights three essential ethical elements that are pertinent in human research and their applications. It was the professional responsibility of the doctors and researchers involved to abide by previously established ethical guidelines. Respect for Persons Respect for the Persons as it relates to the Barney Clark case can be broken down into three important issues. Autonomy The doctors made the assumption that Barney Clark was a fully autonomous person at the time of the artificial heart experiment. In general it is not in doubt that Mr. Clark was an autonomous being, however his terminal condition could have affected his capacity with in the case. While he might have been autonomous in many areas of his life the issue that is relevant to the case was whether he possessed the capacity to make an informed consent. Informed Consent The nine basic rules4 for an informed consent are 1. Identifying the appropriate decision maker 2. Having the discussion at a time when the patient is not distracted or in great pain. 3. Determine that the patient is communicating voluntarily 4. Disclose a. Nature of the proposed intervention b. The purpose c. The risks and consequences d. The benefits e. The probability that the intervention would be successful f. The feasible alternatives g. The prognosis is the intervention/therapy is not given 5. Offer a recommendation 6.