The Belmont Report:
i. The Belmont Report was created in response to recent events and developments in the international community like the condemnation of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study and the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki in 1964. The Declaration of Helsinki, “a statement of ethical principles for medical research involving human subjects, including research on identifiable human material and data” (Declaration of Helsinki).
ii. The Belmont Report was written in 1978 and adopted by 14 federal agencies in 1991. This doctrine establishes the basic ethical principles and traverses through all social contexts, from biomedical research and experimentation to patient treatment in hospitals. iii. The Belmont Report consists of three principles: 1. Respect for Persons: a. “The principle of respect for persons…[includes]…two separate moral requirements: the requirement to acknowledge autonomy and the requirement to protect those with diminished autonomy” (The Belmont Report). b. Essentially this means that we must respect autonomous agents and protect those, like prisoners, who have a diminished autonomy and are susceptible to abuse. Additionally, by respecting ones autonomy that means that each individual has the right to decide if they want to participate in research projects. 2. Beneficence: a. Beneficence imposes a strict obligation to 1) do no harm and 2) maximize potential benefits and minimizes potential harms ("The Principles of the Belmont Report"). b. While this principle asserts that human subjects can be permitted in research, it must be done so that the benefit outweighs the risk. 3. Justice: a. The principle of justice proclaims that people must be treated fairly and equally and there must be a fair distribution of resources. However, with experiments like the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, where a predominantly black population was infected with Syphilis, one cannot discount the fact that there is no equal playing in society. Essentially, due to ones race, gender, ethnicity, or religious creed, not everyone will be viewed equally. |