Journal ArticleDOI
The Limitations of “Vulnerability” as a Protection for Human Research Participants
Carol Levine,Ruth R. Faden,Christine Grady,Dale E. Hammerschmidt,Lisa A. Eckenwiler,Jeremy Sugarman +5 more
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TLDR
Vulnerability is one of the least examined concepts in research ethics as discussed by the authors, and it has lost its power in the context of research, particularly international research, that many groups are now considered to be vulnerable.Abstract:
Vulnerability is one of the least examined concepts in research ethics. Vulnerability was linked in the Belmont Report to questions of justice in the selection of subjects. Regulations and policy documents regarding the ethical conduct of research have focused on vulnerability in terms of limitations of the capacity to provide informed consent. Other interpretations of vulnerability have emphasized unequal power relationships between politically and economically disadvantaged groups and investigators or sponsors. So many groups are now considered to be vulnerable in the context of research, particularly international research, that the concept has lost force. In addition, classifying groups as vulnerable not only stereotypes them, but also may not reliably protect many individuals from harm. Certain individuals require ongoing protections of the kind already established in law and regulation, but attention must also be focused on characteristics of the research protocol and environment that present ethical challenges.read more
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Vulnerability in research and health care; describing the elephant in the room?
TL;DR: This paper proposes that vulnerability in research and healthcare should be defined as an identifiably increased likelihood of incurring additional or greater wrong, and clarifies that the normative force of claims for special protection does not rest with vulnerability itself, but with pre-existing claims when these are more likely to be denied.
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Elucidating the Concept of Vulnerability: Layers Not Labels
TL;DR: The authors examine the role of this label metaphor in current statements of research ethics and examine several cases involving women, as they are sometimes labeled as a vulnerable population and sometimes not, in terms of their vulnerability.
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Why bioethics needs a concept of vulnerability
TL;DR: The concept of vulnerability is under-theorized in the bio-ethics literature as discussed by the authors, which is why bioethics needs an adequately theorized and nuanced conception of vulnerability.
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The concept of 'vulnerability' in research ethics: an in-depth analysis of policies and guidelines.
TL;DR: There is a need for policymakers to revisit the guidance on vulnerability in research ethics, and it is proposed that a process of stakeholder engagement would well-support this effort.
Journal ArticleDOI
Incentives for survey participation when are they "coercive"?
TL;DR: The article reviews the ethical principles underlying the requirement for voluntary informed consent as well as current regulations and a broad theoretical and empirical literature bearing on this question, concluding that incentives are never coercive.
References
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Journal Article
World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki: ethical principles for medical research involving human subjects.
TL;DR: The Helsinki Declaration on Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects, adopted by the World Medical Assembly, is presented.
Book
Bad Blood: The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment
TL;DR: An account of the experiment conducted by the U.S. Public Health Service describes how medical treatment was withheld from Black sharecroppers infected with syphilis.
Book
Ethics and regulation of clinical research
TL;DR: The use of human subjects in medical and scientific research has given rise to troubling ethical questions, and Robert J. Levine reviews federal regulations, ethical analysis, and case studies in an attempt to answer these questions.
Book
Strangers At The Bedside: A History Of How Law And Bioethics Transformed Medical Decision Making
TL;DR: David Rothman gives a brilliant, finely etched study of medical practice today, in which the practice of medicine in the USA underwent a most remarkable and thoroughly controversial transformation.
Book
Protecting the Vulnerable: A Reanalysis of Our Social Responsibilities
TL;DR: Goodin argues that our narrower obligations often blind us to larger social responsibilities The moral claims arising out of special relationships-family, friends, colleagues, and so on-always seem to take priority Strangers ordinarily get, and ordinarily are thought to deserve, only what is left over.