Professional Ethics - Essay Example

[Your full March 25, Opinion I feel that Cohen is right in asserting that a prisoner should begiven the right to give his informed consent and participate in his medical experiments. Although they are under the control of the penal system and the coercions they experience are natural and inevitable, still they are able to make decisions about themselves without being forced into those decisions because it is unethical to forcibly have them sign a medical experiment because of the fact that they do not usually have access to standard medical facilities.

Informed consent is a precondition for prisoner participation and a prisoner has a right to use it to participate in a medical experiment or withdraw from it. Letting them use their consent and having them participate relieves them of boredom and enables them to earn some small amount of money in prison for themselves or for their dependents. Underestimating their informed consent and withdrawing them from medical experiments may result in putting a barrier against the development of a new medical product.

The coercions Mitford discusses are just a push up for the prisoner for a willingness to give his informed consent and present his services in a meaningful manner which is also helpful in their rehabilitation process along with upgrading the medical services in the prison on the whole. Other rewards include better meals, quarters and good treatment. Hence, I second Cohen in that under appropriate measures, legal doctrines and precedents, prisoners have a right to give their informed consent in medical experiments.