Bio Ethics - Reflection Essay Example

The 20th century has seen a considerable rise in human experimentation performed without the consent or knowledge of the subjects. Throughout the history of humanity, human experimentation has been carried out unethically and illegally. These experiments range from exposure to radioactive radiations and chemicals, injection of toxic substances, torture, mind-changing substances, and the use of both biological and chemical weapons. The majority of the tests involved mentally challenged persons, slaves, children, prisoners, and sick individuals. On the other hand, doctors and medical practitioners do carry out self-experimentation on themselves in situations that they do not want to risk the lives of their patients. In the case of sick persons, the experiments are always carried disguised as treatment. The majority of these tests is conducted under very secretive conditions with the knowledge of only the intelligence body, military or the government. Most sponsorship and support derive from the government, private corporations, the military, and the intelligence agency. Some of the most horrible, unethical, and scary unethical experiments in the history of humanity include; Unit 731, Stanford Experimentation, The Tuskegee Syphilis Study, and the Nuremberg Trials. This reflection essay will concentrate on the Tuskegee Syphilis Study and the Nazi Experimentation in line with the ethical and moral aspect of respect for human dignity.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

The Nuremberg Trials

The Nuremberg Trials and testing saw many prisoners in concentration camps subjected to several experimentations aimed at finding ways of helping the Nazi advance their racial ideology. For example, an experiment in the concentration camp carried out on twins focused on showing the differences in the genetic composition of the human body. For example, the twins were injected into the eyes to see any change in color. Dr. Josef Mengele facilitated the experiments that saw over 1500 twins succumb to the adverse side effects of the tests.

Also named: The Angel of Death", Mengele's research during the Second World War exposed the devastating effect of exploitative experimentation on human beings. The majority of those who died were Jews, who were tortured by the Nazis during the Second World War (Cronkite 2014). To bring justice to the Nazi leaders who participated in the exploitative experimentation, the Nuremberg Trials was carried out and took place after the Second World War. Between 50,000 to 100,000, German leaders and soldiers died in the 13 Nuremberg Trials. Later, after their execution, 23 researchers and scientists who took part in the experimentation were charged with crimes against humanity. The majority of the convicted committed suicide while others went into hiding.

The Tuskegee Study

In the Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis amongst the Negro Male, the participants, 201 who did not have the disease and 399 who were infected, were injected, and treated for "bad blood." The members were not fully informed of the treatment and were only given free meals, burial insurance, and free treatment exams for participation (Yan & Munir 2014). Originally designed to last for only six months, the experimentation took over 40 years amongst the blacks. According to a panel mandated to investigate on what went wrong with the treatment, the participants were misled and not given all the information about the treatment. The investigating team concluded that the treatment was not ethical and exposed the participants to grave danger. The government was later forced to provide lifetime benefits to the affected. According to Watsons theory, clinical and medical experimentation is not wholly wrong as carried out by scientists and researchers; however, weak moral motivation often leads to exploitation (Caplan, 2014 p. 473). Both The Nuremberg Trials and the Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis could have been prevented as they both went against ethical and moral standards of medication and treatment.

According to Watsons philosophical concept, participants in the experiment ought to have been informed of the consequences of participating in the research. The ethical principle of the people dictates that individuals involved in a medical experiment need to have full information, result, and side effects of the research on their health and life in general. Exploitation entails knowingly taking advantage of someone else while at the same time exposing the person to danger or harm (Caplan, 2014 p. 465). On the date of the Holocaust, exploitation was carried out against the non-Nazi for medical experimentation, slave labor, with the intention of obtaining and creating anatomical samples. It is a perfect state of exploitation and according to Watson; it is criminal in nature and immoral. Watson argues that the researchers, medical practitioners, and the government was ignorant of the moral, philosophical implications of the decision to involve participants without providing them with all information (Cronkite 2017). The situation in the Tuskegee Study was made worse because even after the introduction of Penicillin for the treatment of Syphilis, the participants who took part in the study were not given penicillin treatment. The situation became worse for the participants as they were exposed to pain and long-term adverse effect.

According to Watson, if a clinical trial or study is administered with the consent of the participant, then it is morally correct and within an approved medical practice (Caplan & Arp 2014). However, there are still instances in which clinical experimentation is carried out amongst the uneducated and fragile individuals that focus more on the right of the research and not the individual. Such clinical trials take on a deontological strategy as it falls within an act of duty irrespective of the outcome of the case in Tuskegee Study and Nuremberg Trials. Morally, it is the responsibility of the researchers and medical practitioners to provide more information as to the trial under experimentation and offer information to subjects undertaking the experiment. The people should always be made aware of the risks involved, benefits, and side effects of the trial.

According to Yan and Munir (2004), a clinical trial often does not offer a chance for exploitation and that consequentialism policy aims to provide and to bring the best results. Therefore, whether a participant is educated or not, Arneson believes that it is morally considerate to provide the necessary information, particularly when many lives is involved such as the Tuskegee trial and the Nuremberg Trials. In both situations, innocent citizens were exposed to risky medical research and trial in which lives were lost due to partisan interest by researchers and the medical profession. Watsons strategy aims at providing information to people who may be put at risk due to unethical medical or research experimentation.

An analysis of the two experiments gives the researchers and physicians the obligation and responsibility to provide full information, risks, and advantage of the trial on the subjects under test. Both the Tuskegee Study and the Nuremberg Trail subjected participants to suffering, pain, and adverse medical conditions due to their unethical and immoral objectives.

References

Caplan, A.L., &Arp, R. (2014). Contemporary Debates in Bioethics.Chichester, West

Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell.

Yan, E. G., & Munir, K. M. (2004). Regulatory and ethical principles in research involving children and individuals with developmental disabilities. Ethics & Behavior, 14(1), 31-49.

Cronkite, W. (2006, February 20). Listening In On the Nuremberg Trials. Retrieved March 17, 2017, from http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5225486(2016, December 08). Retrieved March 17, 2017, from http://www.cdc.gov/tuskegee/timeline.htm