Can unethically produced data be used ethically?
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Published on: May 31, 2019
1University of Sydney, Australia.
Background:
Breaches of medical ethics such as the failure to obtain consent and the failure to allow exit from an experiment, are but two violations that undermine scientific and medical research. This paper provides the results of a survey that asked medical researchers and scientists their views on the use of data from unethical medical experiments.
Methods:
Questionnaires were sent to sixty-eight physicians, bioethicists, psychiatrists and scientists. Four cases of unethical experiments were presented and questions related to the use of the data from those experiments were posed to the participants.
Results:
Responses were obtained from 47% (32) of those approached.
Conclusions:
The majority of respondents replied that they would use the data if it would save a life or improve the quality of life of an individual or members of society as a whole.
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