The Details of the Research Mistreatment Case
Introduction
The use of ethical and moral standards to direct investigators in their actions of investigations is known as the moral principles for study. These principles include kindness, innocence, reverence for persons, and fairness. The Nuremberg Code, created following World War II to define moral standards for research on human beings, is where the origins of research ethics may be found. Since then, various ethical rules have been established and created to guarantee that research is carried out morally and accountable. Nevertheless, misconduct and abuse during investigations have happened despite these rules.
Case Description
The particular instance of Willowbrook State School has been used as an example of abuse and mistreatment throughout the study. Staten Island, New York, has a Willowbrook State School facility for youngsters with intellectual disabilities (Lee et al., 2022). Dr Saul Krugman researched Willowbrook between 1950 and 1960 to examine hepatitis spread among kids with intellectual disorders. The study entailed deliberately infecting kids with hepatitis, followed by tracking the illness’ development. The study’s participants’ kids frequently lived in filthy circumstances and experienced neglect and abuse.
The Willowbrook research generated a great deal of debate and several ethical questions. The question of informed consent was one of the critical worries. Many of the kids who participated in the research could not give their parents their written permission, and their guardians were frequently in a state of confusion about the true purpose of the study. Furthermore, the youngsters who participated in the trial had no direct benefits, and significant hazards were involved.
Exploitation became a different matter of worry. The kids who considered the research were weak and had few medical alternatives. They frequently lived in poor conditions and were neglected, which increased their risk of getting hepatitis. The American government also supported the project, which sparked worries regarding using tax dollars to support studies that took advantage of weaker individuals.
Research ethics underwent substantial adjustments as a result of the Willowbrook investigation. The National Committee for the Safety of Individual Subjects of Medical and Behavioral Studies was created in 1974 following the passage of the National Research Act. The group was tasked with creating moral standards for a study using human participants. As a result, three essential principles in research ethics were formed, identified as the Belmont Report: respect for people, beneficence, and justice. Since then, research ethics has been built on these tenets.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the tragedy surrounding Willowbrook State School provides a sobering illustration of the neglect and abuse that can take place in the study. The study broke various ethical precepts, such as informed permission, non-maleficence, and abuse. The investigation, nevertheless, also had a substantial impact on ethics in research and contributed to the establishment of the basic ideas of fairness, kindness, and regard for other people. Nowadays, studies, including those of individuals, are subject to thorough ethical assessment to ensure they are carried out morally and responsibly. Investigators are subjected to high moral standards.
Ethical Violations, Principles, and Regulation
Introduction
Due to its severe civil rights breaches, Willowbrook State School, a public-funded facility for people with intellectual disabilities that is situated on Staten Island within New York City, has drawn widespread criticism and controversy. After being founded in 1947, the facility was packed, understaffed, and overworked by the 1960s, significantly worsening residents’ living circumstances. The hospital was also conducting a health experiment, which makes it unethical on many fronts. Ethical principles violated by the Willowbrook study included:
- The test subjects’ susceptibility.
- Interference with informed permission.
- The experiment’s lack of therapeutic value for the participants.
When no advantage can be derived for the child, it is immoral to conduct experiments on someone healthy or a mentally disabled youngster.
Analysis
Dr Saul Krugman, a medical professional at the City University of New York Health Center, suggested a research project whereby he gave mentally disabled students at Willowbrook State School actual hepatitis virus injections. In return for their involvement, the kids received promises of better living conditions, plus the chance of an early release. As a result of the children’s incapacity to offer informed permission and the fact that their involvement was not free, they were exposed to several violations.
The hepatitis research ran from 1956 to the middle of the 1970s. Since there had been no vaccination for hepatitis during that point, scientists reasoned that by exposing people to the viral illness, they would develop an immunization. As a result, Krugman subjected the Willowbrook State School students with intellectual disabilities to human experimentation. The research study was conducted without the subjects’ informed permission or additional safeguards for their health and welfare. The research was against medical ethics’ tenets, especially the idea of autonomy, which holds that individuals deserve the capacity to decide what occurs to their bodies.
The Willowbrook State School study also went against the rule of non-maleficence. A belief that doctors should not inflict trauma on the people they treat as there was no effective hepatitis therapy. Then, the test put cognitively challenged youngsters in danger of severe injury and death. The research also went against the concept of goodwill, which dictates that doctors behave in the most significant interest of their patients. The test did not help the kids; they were merely employed as a tool.
Moreover, no government control, rules, or healthcare ethics commission was involved in the study’s conduct. The researchers did not adhere to knowledge about the medication or research protocol. The government and the medical profession, which viewed kids with intellectual disorders as disposable and incapable of care, had complete awareness of and permission for the research.
Conclusion
Concluding, the Willowbrook State School test, especially since it involved the concepts of autonomy, innocence, and kindness, was a flagrant violation of medical ethics. The youngsters with intellectual disabilities ran the risk of severe damage and even death because the study was conducted without their informed consent. Furthermore, there was no control or supervision of the research’s conduct, demonstrating blatant disdain for the individuals’ safety and welfare. To safeguard those vulnerable against exploitation and abuse, rigorous restrictions and control are required, as shown by the Willowbrook State School’s test.
Bibliography
Harrison, Mackenzie. “A Case Study in the Ethics of Queer Oral History.” International Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creative Activities 14, no. 1 (2022): 1. Web.
Lee, Mi Jin, Jeong-Hee Ryu, and Juyeon Lee. “Psychological Mistreatment by Married Children in Korea: Using the Contextual Theory to Explain Mistreatment of Aging Parents and Parents-in-Law.” Journal of Elder Abuse & Neglect 34, no. 3 (2022): 174–97. Web.
Tojaliyev, Ilyasbek. “Offenses Related to Violations of Customs Legislation and Issues of Criminal Liability in Relation to Them.” Oriental Journal of History, Politics and Law 02, no. 04 (2022): 72–80. Web.