October - December 2011 Vol 8 Issue 4
|
Institutional ethics committees: critical gaps
The guidelines issued in 2006 by the Indian Council for Medical Research in India for the formation and conduct of clinical trials in India are still the benchmark by which the conduct of such trials is evaluated. An important section of the guidelines pertains to the constitution and conduct of the committees which should examine, permit and monitor clinical research in India. Information on how well the committees are functioning is not easily available. Personal observation and conversations with members of ethics committees in other institutions have revealed certain serious lacunae, which have the potential of entirely subverting the purpose of these committees….
(read more)
|
Evidence-based medicine: can the evidence be trusted?
Empirical research indicates that much of the evidence required for the practice of evidence-based medicine cannot be trusted. The research agenda has been hijacked by those with vested interests within industry and academia, determining what research is funded and how it is done and reported. Many well-reported randomized controlled trials are designed to deceive by their choice of comparators and outcomes, and manipulation of statistics to produce desired outcomes that are selectively reported. Understanding the many ways in which research is used to deceive, rather than reliably inform health decisions, and reclaiming the research agenda, is the collective responsibility of the scientific community and civil society….
(read more)
|
Bringing back Aristotle
Few books have had such a huge influence on the teaching and practice of medical ethics as Principles of Biomedical Ethics by Beauchamp and Childress. Here, four principles were set out to guide medico-moral decision making: autonomy, non-maleficence, beneficence and justice. The advantages of this approach were considerable. It provided simplicity, and freedom from abstruse philosophical discussion that was thought unattractive to doctors as ‘practical’ men and women. It is as if the model for ethical practice is legal and rule- based. By contrast, consideration of the virtues emphasises the importance of the moral agent. A renewed emphasis on virtue ethics, not as a rival, but integrated into deontological ethics is proposed….
(read more)
|
|
Guidelines for submission
|
Editorial Board
|
Opportunities
|
Subscribe
|
Disclaimer
© Indian Journal of Medical Ethics
|
|
|
