Question

"You realize," Dr. Thorne said, "that you may not be in the group that receives medication. You may be in the placebo group for at least part of the time."

"Right," Ms. Ross said. "You’re just going to give me some medicine."

"And do you understand the aims of the research?"

"You wan tot help me get better," Ms. Ross suggested hesitantly.

"We hope you get better, of course. But that’s not what we’re trying to accomplish here. We’re trying to find out if this medication will help other people in your condition if we can treat them earlier than we were able to treat you."

"You want to help people," Ms. Ross said.

"That’s right. But you do understand that we may not be helping you in this experiment?"

"Not exactly. I mean, we aren’t going to try to harm you. But we aren’t necessarily going to be giving you the preferred treatment for your complaint either. Do you know the difference between research and therapy?"

"Research is when you’re trying to find something out. You’re searching around."

"That’s right. And we’re asking you to be part of a research effort. As I told you, there are some risks. Besides the possibility of not getting treatment that you need, the drug may produce limited hepatic portal damage. We’re not sure how much."

"I think I understand," Ms. Ross said.

"I’m sure you do,: said Dr. Thorne. "I understand that you are freely volunteering to participate in this research."

"Yes, sir. Mrs. Woolend, she told me if I volunteered I’d get a letter put in my file and I could get early release."

"Mrs. Woolend told you that the review board would take your volunteering into account when they consider whether you should be put on work-release."

"Yes, sir. And I’m awfully anxious to get out of here. I’ve got two children stay with my aunt, and I need to get out of this place as quick as I can."

"I understand. We can’t promise you release, of course. But your participation will look good on your record. Now I have some papers here I want you to sign."

Critical Thinking

1. State what the ethical problems are in this case. There are several. State at least three of them.

Answer 1

The ethical problems faced in this case are

1. The subject or the participant "right to withdraw " is not accepted ,respected or responded in the right way .The subject wants to leave the research where the Dr. insists that she is a volunteer and needs to be a part of the research besides her refusal to continue
2. The subject's right to take decision is not valued here because Ms.Ross took a decision under principle of autonomy but the scenario describes that she is simply neglected
3. The principle of of non maleficence is not followed here. This is because the mentality ,emotions and feelings of the participant has to be considered which can greatly impact the research outcome. Here the participant was in an emotional status to care for her children.