Use of Prisoners in Drug Trials

Published

Is it ethical? Do they really have informed consent? This two page article reviews some history, and argues pros and cons:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/13/us/13inmates.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5088&en=8796300a5191346d&ex=1313121600&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

justpoorfect-you are TOO funny! :nuke:

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Specializes in Public Health, DEI.
You may need to review the Belmont report. Your hospital should also have an IRB that may be able to give you some info.

There is nothing to suggest that IRB procedures wouldn't be followed.

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I was suggesting that the IRB(where you work) could give uninformed people information regarding research subjects so that they would become informed. I have no information about prisons and if they have an IRB.

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Specializes in Public Health, DEI.

IRB regulations aren't exclusive to hospitals. I work for a university and have to go through the process to assess whether the simplest of surveys constitutes research and whether the participants are considered human subjects all the time. There is nothing inherently wrong with using prisoners for drug trials, assuming they're afforded the same protections as anyone else.

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Specializes in ICU,ER.

Maybe I am slow this AM, but the WWII reference.....

Comparing murderers and rapists to a persecuted race??

Sorry if I am on a different page, just clarifying.

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

My reference to WWII was to the Nazi concentration camps and Dr. Mengele who performed experiments on the prisoners there. The common feeling was that the prisoners had no rights, had committed "crimes" and therefore were felt to be less than human.

I should have made myself more clear - sorry.

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Specializes in ICU,ER.
My reference to WWII was to the Nazi concentration camps and Dr. Mengele who performed experiments on the prisoners there. The common feeling was that the prisoners had no rights, had committed "crimes" and therefore were felt to be less than human.

I should have made myself more clear - sorry.

'Prisoners' in concentration camps from Nazi Germany and prisoners in our system that have been tried and convicted of crimes are not comparable.

One is our Justice system and the other is Genocide.

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I was suggesting that the IRB(where you work) could give uninformed people information regarding research subjects so that they would become informed. I have no information about prisons and if they have an IRB.

The job of an IRB is to protect the study particpants no matter were they are (even in prison). Most IRB study presentation paperwork has a part on it about "special populations" and prison inmates fall into that. I don't think any IRB would allow study particpants to be used against their will (even prision inmates-no mattter what they did) Just a thought

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Specializes in Too many to list.

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it's the iom that is suggesting this, i hadn't realized what agency it was:

u.s. government wants to begin using prisoners for medical experiments

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