Question

The ad in the newspapers was simple and uninformative: ?Subjects (male and female) wanted to participate in scientific study. Must be 21 or over. $2 per hour.? Karen Barty wrote down the address. She could use the money, and in 1962, $2 an hour wasn?t bad pay for what was sure to be very little work. Besides, the hours were probably flexible, and she could fit the time into her class The next Tuesday morning at ten o?clock, Karen and nine other people reported to Room711 of the Basic Sciences Building in the Western Medical Center. A man, who introduced himself as Dr. Carlo Raphael, explained what would be required of them as research subjects. ?First of all, you must sign consent forms,? he said. ?These state that you are voluntary participants in this study and that for your assistance you will receive a financial reward. If you are not willing to sign the forms, then we cannot accept you as a subject.? He interrupted himself to pass out badly mimeographyed sheets of paper that had ?Voluntary Consent of Research Subjects? printed at the top. Karen signed hers at once, without bothering to read it. The others in her group, she noticed, did the same thing. After filling out a questionnaire and a break they returned and were given sugar cubes. ?Let the cube dissolve in your mouth,? Dr. Raphael had told them. ?Then have some water, if you like, but don?t eat or drink anything else.? It was disgusting, eating plain sugar. But within twenty minutes, Karen knew that it wasn?t just plain sugar. She was sitting on one of the sofas talking to another woman about an English group called the Beatles. The woman had never heard of them, and Karen spelled the name for her. But as she started to spell it, she suddenly found it was hard to concentrate. She knew where she was and what she was doing, but the woman in front of her began to look strange. The woman?s face seemed to be surrounded by a halo of brightly colored light, then her features became twisted and distorted. Karen gave up trying to talk. Somewhere at the back of her mind, she felt fear and confusion. But what was happening to her wasn?t unpleasant. It was interesting, really, and she surrendered herself to the fantastic images that seemed to take over her mind without her being able to control them. Somewhere in that time, she fell asleep or at least she thought she did. She vaguely remembered one of Dr. Raphael?s assistants holding her by the arm and leading her back to the classroom. She tried to talk to him, but she wasn?t sure what she said. When she was handed another test booklet, she was surprised to find how easy it was to fill out the answer sheet. By five o?clock that afternoon, Karen was herself again. It was not until seventeen years later that she realized she had been an unwitting participant in a research project sponsored by the army to determine the psychological effects of LSD. In 1962 a number of people were subjected to drugs as part of experimental testing. They were paid for their participation but were not informed as to the exact nature of the drugs, what they might produce as side effects and what danger there might be. The drugs were hallucinogenic, including LSD. Should the tests have been performed in this manner? How would someone respond to this situation using the ethical principles of: (Respond using the principles of the ethical tradition Rawlism

Answer 1

No, Before signing written conscent it is the duty of Dr.Carlo Raphel to explain the conscent to subject. He should have explained the subject what are the drug to be given and what will be side effects of it and whether it will have a long term sequlae. If they want to keep the drug secret they should inform them seprately that thay cannaot explain it before test. Athrough medical history should be taken to make sure that use of these drugs will not complicate present medical situation with available information about drug. If tested for first time animal study results should be provided to make sure it is not harmful to patients. They should also inform about results as well if the subject ask