Research Catalog

Details

Description

1. xii, 232 pages; 24 cm.

Summary

1. "Research physicians face intractable dilemmas when they consider introducing new medical procedures. Innovations carry the promise of preventing or curing life-threatening diseases, but they can also lead to injury or even death. How have medical scientists made high-stakes decisions about undertaking human tests of new therapies? In Lesser Harms, Sydney A. Halpern explores this question, using archival materials on clinical trials in America during the early and middle decades of the twentieth century." "Today's scientists follow federal guidelines for research on human subjects developed during the 1960s and 1970s. Lesser Harms makes it clear that, long before these government regulations, medical investigators observed informal rules when conducting human research." "This work depicts the uncertainties medical scientists navigate as they balance the benefits and dangers of untested treatments, respond to popular sentiment about medical hazards, and seek the support of sponsors and the public."--BOOK JACKET.

Series statement

1. Morality and society series

Uniform title

1. Morality and society.

Subject

1. Human experimentation in medicine > Moral and ethical aspects > United States
2. Medicine > Moral and ethical aspects > United States
3. Medicine > Law and legislation > United States
4. Poliomyelitis vaccine > Moral and ethical aspects > United States
5. Biomedical Research
6. Jurisprudence
7. Ethics, Medical
8. United States

Contents

1. 1. The origins of a moral logic of risk -- 2. Negotiating moral boundaries : the polio vaccines of 1934-1935 -- 3. Research sponsors and the culture of risk -- 4. Formalizing responses to research hazards -- 5. The social nature of moral action -- 6. Moral traditions in an era of government oversight.

Bibliography (note)

1. Includes bibliographical references (p. 209-222) and index.