Ethical Considerations and Violations in Biomedical Research: A Report

This report analyzes ethical principles in research, focusing on a case study involving the Tuskegee syphilis study. It highlights violations of informed consent, beneficence, non-maleficence, autonomy, and justice. The study, conducted by the US public health services, involved deceiving participants and withholding treatment. The report discusses the historical context, the ethical codes violated, and the consequences of the research. It also references the Nuremberg Code and the Belmont Report, which established ethical guidelines to protect research subjects and promote ethical practices in biomedical studies, including proper subject selection, informed consent, and risk assessment.

Running head: ETHICAL PRINCIPLES IN RESEARCH
Ethical principles in research
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1ETHICAL PRINCIPLES IN RESEARCH
There were four main experimental researches performed that signifies violation of
ethical principles while conducting treatment of untreated diseases in humans. The Tuskegee
syphilis study was conducted by physicians who were the primary researchers and
implemented by the nurses (Grove & Gray, 2019). In the 20th century, racism was very
prevalent among African Americans and Whites, and the history of syphilis was profound in
black men of America. Therefore it opened a research area for the public health services of
the US who studied the treatment procedure for the vulnerable black population suffering
from syphilis in Tuskegee, Alabama.
Most of the subjects in the clinical trial were uninformed about the aspects of the
research, its harmful and beneficial sides, and the purpose of the research. Some of the
subjects did not know that they were a part of the research. The first treatment process
included heavy metals and mercury rubs as standard therapy. Syphilis, which is a sexually
transmitted disease, has three stages- symptomatic stage, asymptomatic stage, and tertiary
stage. The last two stages are focussed on treatment in untreated men. The subjects were
informed that they would be provided with treatment that will cure their disease; however,
they were blindfolded about the fact that the treatment was not for a cure but for clinical
research trial that can have severe effects on their life and violate the human rights. The
nurses play an essential role in the study as they can easily convince the subjects to
participate in the study if the nurse is of the same ethnicity. The medicine was administered
with the help of spinal taps that was a painful procedure with futility. Another ethical
principle alongside a lack of consent from participants was a deceiving letter, which stated
that free treatment would be provided. Veracity and autonomy were the principles that were
initially violated. During the experiment, the treatment costs the life of the subjects leading to
death, and the death rate after ten years of experiment increased twice for the group suffering
from syphilis than control group, which violated the principle of beneficence and non-

2ETHICAL PRINCIPLES IN RESEARCH
maleficence (Grove & Gray, 2019). The US public health services and the researches violated
all the rights of human and ethical codes in nursing and healthcare. Since black men were
vulnerable among the American population, there was discrimination between the ethnicities
in the research, which made them guinea pigs, and there was violation of right to life.
The Nuremberg code was the first set of ethical principles for ethical medical
research created by the Nazi doctors, which were not accepted by the American research hers,
and they continued to conduct unethical researches. Finally, due to objections made against
this kind of research, it led to the formation of ethical guidelines in the Belmont report in US
created by the National Commission for the protection of human subjects of biomedical and
behavioral research, 1979. This report is followed by American researchers in recent years to
protect the right of research subjects in conducting biomedical study by following ethical
principles, which helps them to select appropriate study subjects, giving them information on
the risks and benefits of the study and documentation of their consent. The ethical principles
include autonomy, beneficence, and justice to minimize unethical practice by the researchers
and nurses.

3ETHICAL PRINCIPLES IN RESEARCH
References:
Grove, S.K. & Gray, J.R., 2019. Understanding Nursing Reasearch- Building an Evidence-
Based Practice. Elsevier, 4, pp.125-160.