The ethics and politics of human experimentation
By: Paul M. McNeill.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 1993
Place of publication: Cambridge; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 315
Subjects: Human experimentation in medicine -- Moral and ethical aspects.; Human experimentation in medicine -- Political aspects.
Description: This book focuses on experimentation that is carried out on human beings, including medical research, drug research and research undertaken in the social sciences. It discusses the ethics of such experimentation and asks the question: who defends the interests of these human subjects and ensures that they are not harmed? The author argues that ethical research depends on the adequacy of review by committee. Indeed most countries now rely on research ethics committees or institutional review boards for the protection of the interests of the human participants in research. Dr McNeill analyses how successful these committees are in balancing the interests of science with the interests of human subjects.

The author finds that these committees are predominantly influenced by members of research institutions and by the researchers themselves. Yet researchers, and their institutions, stand to gain considerable benefits from the experiments they conduct. Dr McNeill argues that committees of review, as they are presently constituted, cannot be relied on to ensure an equitable balance between the interests of researchers and the interests of the human subjects experimented on. He proposes a radically different rationale and model for committee review.

Within a broadly comparative framework, this book analyses a topical and important issue in medical ethics. It takes historical, philosophical, medical and legal approaches to the issue and is the only book to address the inherently political nature of committee review. It will be read internationally by members of ethics committees and IRBs, health administrators, medical professionals and researchers at all levels, lawyers and bioethicists, as well as students of law and medicine, community health, applied ethics and the philosophy of science.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 280-306) and index.