Essay Example on Ethical Challenges of 1950s Tacit Consent in NIH Research

Introduction

Making informed consent and choice in matters relating to health can be a problem to many. The three examples I would pick that have ethical challenges in practice are; the use of tacit consent in the 1950s, producing gene edited babies, and women donating/selling their eggs. Many patients fall victims of professionals who take advantage of their unsuspecting situation to exploit them.

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The Ethical Challenges of the use of Tacit Consent in 1950s (NIH research center)

The National Institute of Health (NIH) research center faced myriad challenges in the 1950s that have been improved as time goes by. Using the implicit consent method, there were a lot of medical negligence and ethical issues in the process. Most patients at the time would keep silent and assume that doctors would identify or infer their medical problems and act upon them. Caregivers at that time owed specific duties to patients and the implicit method of implying silence would lead to professional negligence. As required, medical practitioners should get prior informed consent from their clients for them to carry out any diagnosis or therapy. They are assuming that when patients could not express themselves as a reason to violate their rights, was a primary glaring ethical concern.

Ethically, when doctors obtain prior informed consent from the patients, they can administer diagnosis and therapy effectively without any complaints of procedures. The implicit method had ethical medical gaps since it was an assumed silence by the patients and doctors would act without such informed consent. Many cases would arise from such processes that attracted legal action against medical professionals, either for negligence or just operating without patient's compliance. That lack of effective communication with an implicit approach made many patients vulnerable in their treatment process. Ethically, patients deserve proper explanations about the tests and treatments regarding their lives. Such clear information will lead the patient to make informed consent and have satisfaction from the service.

The Ethical Challenges of Producing Gene Edited Babies

The reproduction of genetically edited babies is a topic that has been under global debate for quite some time. Many ethicists have argued that the technical feasibility of the process exhibits glaring ethical gaps. Scientifically speaking, knowledge generation should consider the context and consequences of any innovation. Taking the example of the first Chinese scientist who produced the first gene-edited babies, professionals pointed out glaring ethical mistakes in the process. The primary moral concern was that the experiment was conducted outside the structured institution by a lone scientist using technology. Experts said that the use of CRISPR technology that he used could have dire generational consequences by creating monsters.

Another ethical concern of the scientific society was that trying to rush technology and crossing ethical red lines could lead to public suspicion that may eventually bring down research. Professional biologists observed that rushing technology while skipping crucial moral steps may lead us back to where we have come from. Despite the appreciation of human cloning, there need to be strict global regulations to govern the research. People are still struggling to understand the medical benefits of human cloning.

Ethical Concerns of Women Donating their Eggs

Many women end up making uninformed decisions when it comes to the donation of their eggs. Most donor women get influenced by large sums of money they are offered in the market without considering some of the ethical implications of the exercise. Therefore, the commercialization of human organs has posed a severe moral challenge in the world of modern medical technology. Based on natural laws of creation, human beings should be created through a naturally occurring process. In that connection, egg selling or donation by women is regarded as a process that distorts the meaning of human reproduction and also breaks families. Women need to be given proper education on the consequences of exchanging their organs for money instead of giving voluntarily.

The fact that a specific part of a woman's body organ is derived from creating a typical child denies these women their derivative dignity. Children produced from such processes become products of monetary exchange in the market. As such, women donors need not be influenced by large amounts of money in exchange for their body organs. It takes away the natural ethics of creation and the inherent sanctity of life as was commanded by God. Professionals argue that this aspect of money exchange for baby-producing cells amounts to purchase of children.

Experts have argued that the only form of egg donation that is ethical is where a woman makes an informed choice to donate her eggs freely, without any payment. Logically, free donation amounts to the conscience of reward for the life of a child to be produced. However, it is equally important to note that some people also donate their eggs in the black market for various cultural or economic reasons. Ethically, the backstreet donation of eggs may lack professional attention, hence putting the lives of such women at higher health risks. The exploitation comes because there is a lack of proper regulations and policies to govern the egg procurement process. It is highly recommendable that the government should come up with the legal framework to regulate the practice.

Works Cited

Johnstone, Megan-Jane, and PhD Ba RN Facn. Bioethics: a nursing perspective. Elsevier, 2019. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=Z_uRDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=Bioethics&ots=QhOQ5F62IZ&sig=oY46RjCzmR0jxd7TZynVU3OXy18