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Henry Beecher’s Contributions to the Ethics of Clinical Research
- Perspectives in Biology and Medicine
- Johns Hopkins University Press
- Volume 59, Number 1, Winter 2016
- pp. 3-17
- 10.1353/pbm.2016.0018
- Article
- Additional Information
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In the 1950s and ’60s, Henry Beecher pioneered the discussion of the ethics of clinical research, leading eventually to the publication of the famous
This article argues that Beecher’s reliance on conscientious investigators is problematic. In particular, it focuses on benefits and harms to the exclusion of other moral criteria. However, both research subjects and public regulators are also concerned about autonomy and the consent requirement, confidentiality, and fairness in subject selection and research design. The movement in the 1970s toward more public scrutiny was critical, even though Beecher was right in holding that it was not “vicious disregard for subject welfare” that explained unethical protocols.