The Ethics of Trials that Offer Less than the Best
Dr. Collin O’Neil - Lehman College, City University of New York.
Good Medical Research is research that has the potential
to deliver results that can improve the capabilities and decision-making of
clinicians, and that obtains its results via methods that respect the rights of
human subjects. Settling questions about what counts as good medical research
is an interdisciplinary enterprise, requiring contributions from statisticians,
scientists, clinicians, and ethicists, and the MedicReS World Congress will be
bringing these experts together.
My subject is the ethics of withholding care
from participants in clinical trials. These
trials are usually conducted overseas in settings where the care is unavailable
in the local health care system. The
participants are therefore not deprived of anything they would have had access
to outside the trial. But these trials
remain controversial because the researchers could prevent the participants
from suffering serious harm, and decline to do so. It is my hope that attendees will come away
with a better understanding of the ethics of these trials.
There is a growing consensus that clinical
researchers are justified in doing less than their best for the subjects in
their trials when necessary to obtain results that will help future patients
more. I criticize this view on the grounds
that it neglects the moral constraint against allowing harm as a means, and
describe several trial designs that intend the harmful consequences of
withholding care as a means to various research-related ends.
I hope you will consider attending the 2015
MedicReS World Congress to hear a variety of presentations on the theme of good
medical research, and to participate in the conversations they generate.
October 19th, 15.30-17.00
The Cooper Union, The Great Hall 7 East 7th Street ,New York, NY 10003
The Ethics of Trials that Offer Less than the Best Dr. Collin O’Neil - Center for Bioethics, NYU
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