Assingment 2, Belmont Report

1. What were some of the events that caused the Belmont report to be written?

Events that lead to the Belmont report were the abuse of human subjects in biomedical experiments. One of these experiments was the Tuskegee syphilis study of the 1940's that used disadvantage rural black men. These subject were denied the successful treatment because the researcher did not wish to interrupt the project. The Belmont report would protect the socially disadvantage, minorities and mentally ill subjects that were targeted for experiments.

2. What are the “Basic Ethical Principles” cited in the Belmont Report?

The “Basic Ethical Principles” cited in the Belmont report is respect of persons, beneficence and justice.

3. How are the “Basic Ethical Principles” assured in research practice?

Without the rules and regulation enforced in the Belmont report there would be unjust experiments that would for the most part be advantageous to the researcher. Respect of persons is the belief that we must respect every individual regardless of their autonomy. It demands that subjects enter into research voluntarily and with sufficient information. It also states that we must not take advantage of individuals that are not capable of independent judgment. We must respect the elderly, young and mentally ill when they are recruited for research. Beneficence in medical research is understood as an obligation to not harm the subjects, and the benefits must out weight the risk. Justice is being assured in scientific research by not allowing that people who participate be denied the effective treatment. Everyone who participates should receive the benefits of the experiment. Once an experiment is discovered to be successful it should be administer to all subjects.