Hot Topics: Human Subjects Research & IRBs

Blog Posts (1)

November 15, 2013

Does Execution by Lethal Injection Violate the Ethics of Human Research?

by Arthur L. Caplan, PhD

The Governor of Ohio has been wrestling with the question of whether a prisoner soon to be executed can donate his organs.  Ronald Phillips, 40, is scheduled to be executed in the next few days for the 1993 rape and murder of 3-year-old Sheila Marie Evans.  He says he would like to donate his heart and kidney to his family members who may need them.  In fact, execution by electrocution, gassing and lethal injection in an execution chamber do not go well with organ donation.  Execution deliberately tries to get vital bodily organs to stop working.  Organ procurement requires brain death with vital organs undamaged.  They don’t mix.…

News (196)

March 3, 2014 4:08 pm

Women Still Left Out of Medical Research: Report

Two decades after the passage of a landmark law mandating that women be represented in government-funded medical research, a new report reveals that the world of science is still ignoring women’s unique health issues far more than it should.

August 26, 2013 12:56 pm

Reporting to NIH on Race and Ethnicity of Clinical Research Participants

The inclusion of women, different racial and ethnic groups, and children is extremely important in clinical research to understand who is affected by a given disease or condition and to develop the appropriate treatments.

March 20, 2013 5:51 pm

Stanford bioethicist speaks out about layers of stem cell regulations

Stanford bioethicist Hank Greely, JD, spoke out in an article in Nature exploring whether all these layers of approval are really still necessary.

March 7, 2013 12:19 pm

Time to ditch stand-alone stem cell oversight panels, experts say (Nature Medicine)

The vital role ESCROs have played in recent years can now be taken over by IRBs and IACUCs—both of which have existed at universities and research institutions for decades. Those two review bodies would only have to expand their remits slightly to cover hESC-specific considerations.

April 10, 2012 12:18 pm

'Benefits and burdens' of participating in clinical research trials (News-Medical)

In one of the first studies of its kind, University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing researchers have identified what cancer patients consider the “benefits and burdens” of participating in clinical research trials. From their findings, the researchers developed a model of the five elements of decision-making (physical, psychological, economic, familial, and social) that patients with cancer use to determine whether to participate or remain in a clinical trial.

January 18, 2012 12:00 am

Fines expose failings in policing of Indian drug trials

June 23, 2010 12:00 am

EPA Reverses Controversial ?Human Guinea Pig? Rule

June 22, 2010 12:00 am

Concern Over Foreign Trials for Drugs Sold in U.S.

June 21, 2010 12:00 am

Consent Form Gobbledygook: Are Medical Research Subjects Adequately Informed?

June 8, 2010 12:00 am

Physicians group accuses CIA of testing torture techniques on detainees

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