I actually keep track of these things and do discuss medical ethics as well as psychological ethics in terms of clinical work. The opportunity costs in medical quackery are relatively easy to describe for students and the general theme is similar to that found for behavioral studies and quackery--I just watched the 60 minutes piece on stem cell transplants for ALS (quackery) and thought it would be a good piece to use in class.
The general ideas of research ethics for behavioral versus biomedical research are transferrable in terms of critical thinking and evidence evaluation issues. So, I for one, think it is relevant. Annette Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph. D. Professor, Psychological Sciences University of San Diego 5998 Alcala Park San Diego, CA 92110 tay...@sandiego.edu<mailto:tay...@sandiego.edu> ________________________________ From: Jim Clark [j.cl...@uwinnipeg.ca] Sent: Monday, February 28, 2011 6:58 PM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Subject: Re: [tips] For When You're Covering Ethics in Research Hi What are the grounds for thinking that any of this is relevant to the vast majority of psychological or other social science research? Jim James M. Clark Professor of Psychology 204-786-9757 204-774-4134 Fax j.cl...@uwinnipeg.ca<mailto:j.cl...@uwinnipeg.ca> >>> "Mike Palij" <m...@nyu.edu> 28-Feb-11 5:39 PM >>> Over the weekend that Associated Press (AP) released a report on the use of human subjects in medical research. One version is provided by the Washington Post and can be accessed here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/27/AR2011022700988_pf.html Quoting the article, it describes itself in the following terms: |An exhaustive review by The Associated Press of medical journal |reports and decades-old press clippings found more than 40 such |studies. At best, these were a search for lifesaving treatments; at |worst, some amounted to curiosity-satisfying experiments that hurt |people but provided no useful results. Much of this research used what we call today "vulnerable populations" such as prisoners, the elderly, the mentally ill, and others. Examples of each are given but the rationale for the use of prisoners is telling: Quoting the article again: |By the early 1970s, even experiments involving prisoners were considered |scandalous. In widely covered congressional hearings in 1973, |pharmaceutical industry officials acknowledged they were using prisoners |for testing because they were cheaper than chimpanzees. A disturbing trend in the conduct of medical research is to have it conducted outside of the U.S. where it is more difficult to review what is being done: Quoting from the article: |Last year, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' inspector |general reported that between 40 and 65 percent of clinical studies of |federally regulated medical products were done in other countries in 2008, |and that proportion probably has grown. The report also noted that U.S. |regulators inspected fewer than 1 percent of foreign clinical trial sites. | |Monitoring research is complicated, and rules that are too rigid could slow |new drug development. But it's often hard to get information on international |trials, sometimes because of missing records and a paucity of audits, said |Dr. Kevin Schulman, a Duke University professor of medicine who has |written on the ethics of international studies. | |These issues were still being debated when, last October, the Guatemala |study came to light. | |In the 1946-48 study, American scientists infected prisoners and patients |in a mental hospital in Guatemala with syphilis, apparently to test whether |penicillin could prevent some sexually transmitted disease. The study came |up with no useful information and was hidden for decades. | |The Guatemala study nauseated ethicists on multiple levels. Beyond infecting |patients with a terrible illness, it was clear that people in the study did not |understand what was being done to them or were not able to give their |consent. Indeed, though it happened at a time when scientists were quick to |publish research that showed frank disinterest in the rights of study participants, |this study was buried in file drawers. | |"It was unusually unethical, even at the time," said Stark, the Wesleyan researcher. | |"When the president was briefed on the details of the Guatemalan episode, |one of his first questions was whether this sort of thing could still happen |today," said Rick Weiss, a spokesman for the White House Office of Science |and Technology Policy. The article does not say whether there was a definitive answer given to President Obama's question. -Mike Palij New York University m...@nyu.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: j.cl...@uwinnipeg.ca. 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