ECON 546 Lecture Notes - Lecture 26: Distributive Justice, Thalassemia, European Credit Transfer And Accumulation System
27 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
BIOL 568 – Joly L23: 5/4/18
1
L23-25: Ethics
Ethics: Moral implications of what you do.
Bioethics: study of ethical issues emerging from advances in biology and medicince.
Multicultural/multidisciplinary – very broad, applies to many areas:
1. Bioethics: ethical inquiry applied to progress in biological sciences. Cloning animals –
humans? Modifying genes etc. Moral conclusion of what you should do, try to formulate set of
rules so other scientists can follow them. Can eventually become cultural norms, then laws.
2. Research ethics: related to research projects. Once researching human subjects – project
must be submitted and approved by ethics committee. Embryo studies.
3. Clinical ethics: more applied. Healthcare and how it is provided from doctors to patients.
Living past an age they want to live. Also not just relying on physician, committees as well.
4. Public health ethics: at the level of population. Not just level of research project and
participants/ doctor and patient. Where to invest money? When to enforce quarantine on
people? E.g. investing money into healthcare system. Economics
Normativitiy:
o Norms = rules
o Social norms: laws, ethical norms, technical standards, deontological rules (in decreasing
order of formality)
o More formal process, stronger rule.
o Law = most stringent type of rule. Discussed, debated, voted – long democratic process
o Ethical norms = norms within a research project for example, easier to adopt and easier to
change
o Enforceability of a norm – how to make sure rule is followed.
− Laws – sanctions e.g. running through red light, enforced by police
− Ethical norms – could be sued for negligence, doctors – the rule of reasonable physician.
Can be enforced by colleagues, college of physicians.
− Social norms – no-one to enforce
Historical overview:
o 5th century BC: Hippocratic oath
o Became clear v early on that medicine and ethics closely related
o Medical profession not respected before Renaissance. After this, standard of practice and
equipment improved
o 19th century: Claude Bernard drafts first rules concerning the ethics of medical research
o First rule of medicine = do good, do no harm.
− Privacy
− Autonomy, consent
o 1946: Nuremberg code – emerged after research done on prisoners. Autonomy one of the
most important principles introduced. First set of research ethic principles for human
experimentation.
o 1964: Declaration of Helsinki – syphilis without treatment
o 1975: Asilomar Conference – Genetic engineering – is it ok to experiment on DNA molecules?
o 1979: Principlism Ethics in the U.S. – more formalised
o 1997: Universal Declaration on the Human Genome and Human Rights
BIOL 568 – Joly L23: 5/4/18
2
A few ethical theories:
a) Consequentialism: check the consequences to see if something is right or wrong. Trying to
make most people in society happy. What’s the goal? Greatest number of people to have
greatest pleasure, then about human flourishing
b) Deontological ethics: focuses on individual rather than the group. Rule based. Not about
one specific consequence. Individual should not be considered as a mean. E.g. using people
to find a cure of syphilis is unethical.
c) Ethics of care: some more vulnerable than others in society. Patients are more vulnerable
than physician, extra care should be taken.
d) Virtue ethics: if you act with good intent, you will get good results and become a better
person.
Principlism
o Theory most used in N.A – v easy and accessible
o Practical and simple
o Three important principles that can be applied to any situation in medical and research
practices:
1. Beneficence/non-maleficence: do good, do not harm. Risks/benefits for patients, is
experimental design good, is doctor/researcher qualified
2. Justice: right to equality, don’t want same people to have the risk and others to benefit. E.g.
research in African populations, then provide results (drugs) to American population. Excluding
children (under x age) or women from research – unknown response, may not be able to
benefit.
! Subject selection, inclusion/exclusion, recruitment
3. Respect for persons: informed consent, surrogate consent – being aware that some people
cannot provide consent, assent, protection of subjects (esp vulnerable populations).
o Shortcomings of principlism – just three principles may not be sufficiently diverse for all
problems that may arise.
Challenges to Ethical Theory
Cultural Relativism: what may be moral in N.A may not be in another society. Different norms
and values in different cultures. Dominating western norms.
Emotivism: ethics can be a pretence, used to justify emotions. May in fact help each other.
Key policy on Canadian research ethics
" Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involving Humans
Must submit research projects, needed to follow criteria to get funding
Research Ethics Board
Document Summary
Bioethics: study of ethical issues emerging from advances in biology and medicince. Multicultural/multidisciplinary very broad, applies to many areas: bioethics: ethical inquiry applied to progress in biological sciences. Moral conclusion of what you should do, try to formulate set of rules so other scientists can follow them. Can eventually become cultural norms, then laws: research ethics: related to research projects. Once researching human subjects project must be submitted and approved by ethics committee. Healthcare and how it is provided from doctors to patients. Living past an age they want to live. Also not just relying on physician, committees as well: public health ethics: at the level of population. Not just level of research project and participants/ doctor and patient. Normativitiy: norms = rules, social norms: laws, ethical norms, technical standards, deontological rules (in decreasing order of formality, more formal process, stronger rule, law = most stringent type of rule.
