Experimenting with Human Subjects - Essay Example

Experimenting with human s is going on in many fields of scientific and technological progress. It is designed to replace the overall instruction by natural occasional experience with the selective information from artificial, systematic experiment which physical science has found so effective in dealing with inanimate nature. Of the new experimentation with man, medical is surely the most legitimate” (Belmont; Wadsworth, p. 362) . Hans Jonas aimed to analyze the modern scientific, medical and social approaches to different problems. The ethical theory of the author is applied to the experimental methods. Hans Jonas considered that the individuals are exposed to danger, if people justify the experiments as the value of the society. It is necessary to be aware of the danger, which appears during the execution of the experiments. He concentrates the attention on the risks, undertaken by people in the field of experimental science and rejects the necessity to sacrifice human life in the sake of science. The main points stated by the author of the article: Medical research of the ethical theory. The author pays his attention to the concept of freedom of the individual. Gratitude must not be considered as a debt to the society and the person does not have to live under the pressure. The conscription of the Consent. Here the author concentrates on the consent of impulse. The human being possess a dual character. On the one hand, there is a self-protection, on the other – he acts according to the situation. The impulse of the person can become the reason for the risks taken. Self-Recruitment of the Community. The first natural addressee of the experiment is the researcher. The author states the main peculiarities of his work and call them “the divine madness”. The researcher is ready to sacrifice his life in order to achieve the desirable results. These people are totally devoted to the art of science. The general identification of the Recruitment principle. The procedure of selection of the community members is based on the degree and the level of experience of the individuals. Among the necessary qualities the author states devotion and enthusiasm for the progress. Anyway, the research process applies the qualification and struggle for knowledge. The “descending order”. In this abstract the author states the reverse order of the social utility standards and their narrowing according to the standard principles. The concept of sacrifice in the name of the science is called “wastefulness”. The decrease of the progress is the price for the preservation of human’s life. Experimentation on patients. Sick people are the main subjects of the experiments, because they suffer from a particular disease and their purpose is to find the cure for the future treatment. The main ethical obligation of the doctor in this case is patient relation. Ground Privilege of the sick. While testing the patient, the scientist is obliged to the patient only, as is responsible for his life. The physician does not have to think about his own benefits, during the experiments, but he should be concentrated on the desire to save the person’s life. Identification applied to patients. The patient is the main object of the research. He should be carefully watched during the experiment and all his reaction is connected with the injections taken. The hopeless patient is the most justifiable for the scientific researches as their results may save his life. The physician should understand the seriousness of the condition and hold the examinations as carefully as he can. Borderline case. The experimenters of the treatment are not always fully involved with this process. The borderline problem reveals in the ignorance of the subject to the unconscious person, who receives the treatment. Prohibition of the experiments on the patients unrelated to their disease. The subjects of the experiments have to be people, who possess a particular disease. The scientific fight with the illness is impossible without the total representation of the problem. Hans Jonas justifies the experiments of this kind, as he considers that they can protect other people from these diseases and those who are already ill can help themselves as well. It is obvious, that the methodological problems of different areas of scientific studies have their own peculiarities in the fields of knowledge, as well as moral and ethical have their own specific characteristics. In some branches of science, especially those ones, related to the human knowledge, these problems are more complicated, than in any other field, which is more remote from the realities of everyday human existence. Research on the methodology of science is a completely independent field of knowledge, which has serious implications for discussion of ethical issues. The ​​interest in this direction of research was predetermined by the significant economic, social and political changes, in terms of which the modern science exists. Regarding to this, it is necessary to revise the terms of “social contract” between the science and society. The essence of this statement can be explained in the following way. The Company provides the conditions for the development of study: research funding, social support, free determination of scientists and the subjects of the experiment, the relevance and validity of the results obtained. The science provides: a) The continuous expansion of knowledge about the world; b) The description of this knowledge in the way, which helps to apply them for creation of the new and useful products and technologies; c) Training for those, who are able to create products and technologies and ensure their efficiency. One of the hidden assumptions, which made possible the contract between the science and society, was the notion that knowledge, achieved by different studies, was definitely good and useful in a variety of ways. Consequently, knowledge was considered as the cognitive activity as well as the semantic core of science and practical application. Hans Jonas considered experiments as the integral part of the scientific research, but stated that certain technological advances could easily turn into the unexpected and very unpleasant consequences. “With all our striving to wrest from our morality what we can, we should bear its burden with patience and dignity”. (Jonas, p.245). It is impossible, not to mention in this context the so-called "technological imperative. According to this notion, everything that becomes technically possible for humanity, should certainly be realized in practice. Meanwhile, those who are not inclined to agree with the fatalistic "technological imperative" have long been trying to somehow influence the processes of social acceptance of new technologies. It also makes sense to remember about the evaluation of technologies, which has been developed over the past decades. Its aim is not the abolition of dangerous studies, but predicting the possibility of negative effects on people and minimizing them. The discussion of ethical problems, created by the use of research results is a very important question in the scientific study. Hans Jonas considered that the ethical judgments and estimates can be applied not only to the practical use of the results of the research, but also to the processes of their preparation. In modern science arises a rough conflict between the freedom of scientific researches, on the one hand, and the need to protect the dignity, rights and interests of those, who find themselves in the role of subjects of these researches, on the other. Hans Jonas in his essay tries to anticipate people that the results that may appear from different researches are not worth their energy and there are other values that they must not lose in the world of science. The scientific community have been protecting the principle of freedom for a number of centuries and it has gained a very high status in the hierarchy of values. The work of Hans Jonas is directed to the analysis of the variety of ways of human exposure and the existing opportunities of the individual. This analysis is realized in numerous experiments, in which the person is involved as a test. Each experiment is designed to increase knowledge about the properties of a medicine, new devices, and so forth. “Having faith in the transcendent potential of man, I do not fear that the “source” will ever fail a society that does not destroy it—and only such a one is worthy of the blessings of progress”.(Wm. B. Eerdmans, p.912). The necessity for its appliance is predetermined by the requirements of the development of a particular branch of biology or medicine or other areas of knowledge. The set of the results, received from such experiments, provides us some knowledge about the person. Participation in them is always more or less risky in relation to the subject. It leads to the contradiction of interests between two sides: on the one hand, the researcher who seeks a subject for the experiment in order to obtain the new knowledge; on the other hand, the subject for the experiment, the main aim of which is the therapeutic effect or cure from a particular disease, which is also the main reason of his participation in the study. Hans Jonas, discussing the problems of experiments on human beings, spoke about the necessity of restriction the experiments provided by the research industry. He drew the attention of the auditory to the fact that, the scientific community had to fight with a strong temptation - regular experimentation with the most affordable human material. Jonas considered the experiments with humans as the extreme, not the regular way to serve the public good. Since the time, when Hans Jonas first talked about the research industry, it has become a full-fledged reality. Moreover, such studies are seen not only in terms of risk, but also in terms of the benefits they can bring. Typically, the benefits of such acts studied the therapeutic effect of a new drug or a new treatment. The question of the legitimacy of these two interpretations of biomedical research deserves special consideration. It is important to emphasize that the ethical support was provided for all studies. In biomedical research, there are two basic mechanisms of regulation of this process. The first one is a procedure, which requires the agreement of the subject for the participation in it. Secondly, the modern practice of biomedical research is assumed that each research project can be carried out only after the application is approved by the independent ethics committee. The practice shows that the pharmaceutical companies themselves, when they test new drugs, are interested in getting the approval of ethical committees for their projects. It strengthens the authority and enterprises, and improves market prospects of the checked drugs. The area of biomedical research, and the ethical regulation, developed greatly due to the effects, which do not aim to improve human health. The scientific and technical progress, based on the direct satisfaction of human needs, created the new materials that surround us in everyday life (new appliances and devices, food products, cosmetics and so forth). Each of these items before getting to the consumer market was tested in terms of toxicological, environmental safety and many other points. Each of these verifications implies tests, provided by the ethical control. The continuous updating of the subjects of verifications, which means the new research organization is an unchangeable law of modern business life. Thus, the majority of events, which happen in the sphere of science, engineering, business, and so forth are involved in the orbit of ethical regulation. According to the essay of Hans Jonas the main task of ethical regulation is to protect people from the risks involved. Special structures and mechanisms are responsible for the achievement of this purpose. As a result, none of the biomedical researches, which are carried on the person, can be started without passing the ethical control. In other words, the general plan and many details of the project should be considered by the independent ethics committee, and only after its approval, the study can be started. The risk must be justified in the eyes of the researcher-specialists, and the ordinary people who perceive the dangers of the experiment, differently from the professionals. Consequently, according to Hans Jonas, any scientific research depends upon its ethical evaluations. This process can be generalized in the meaning of the “ethical industry”, established in the field of biomedical research. Nowadays there is a new period in the practice of experimenting with human beings. This process should not be considered as something extraordinary, as well as something that has to be practiced only in a few extreme cases. On the contrary, they should be treated as critical part of the present and the future progress of biomedicine. The article is definitely worth reading. Hans Jonas described different aspects in the experimentation with human beings and justified the risk of the experiments only in case of the disease possession. It does not mean that any person, who has a particular illness must participate in the experience. On the contrary, he stated that the concept of personal freedom is the main motto of the people, who think about the participation in such experiment. Anyway, people does not have to live under the pressure of obligation and the most important thing for the physicians is to minimize the negative effects of these experiments on the human health. Read More