APA Ethical Dilemma Paper
Trial Testing in Children
Leslie Aguilar
Chamberlain College of Nursing
NR 322: Pediatric Nursing
3/28/15
Trial Testing in Children Our country is one where every day, new medical treatments and medicines are being discovered and being approved to help Americans battle all of the different diseases and conditions that affect us. In order for us to be able to get access to those medications and treatments, many people agree to become part of clinical trials, they are the first to receive the treatments, this helps to understand how the body will be affected and if the medication will be effective. People who are part of these clinical trials, go through extensive medical testing, and they must be of sound mind and fully understand what the clinical trial is about and everything it implies, and they must be the ones making the decision, no one should be forcing them to do it. So what happens when the effects of medication and treatments need to be tested on children, because like adults, children suffer from many diseases and conditions that need new treatments, do children really understand what clinical trials are?, do they understand the risks of the trials?, is it acceptable for parents to make the decision of children being part of these trials since they are the adults and the ones who understand?, where is the line drawn when it comes to children being part of clinical trials?, there are so many complicated questions and sometimes the answers are just as complex.
Ethical Dilemma Pediatric clinical trials have not been heard of until 1955, when Hepatitis studies were performed at Willowbrook School in New York. This school housed hundreds of mentally challenged children, the physician of this school and his staff deliberately infected children with hepatitis, with the purpose of being able to create a vaccine that would cure the disease (Laventhal, Tarini & Lantos, 2012). To this day, these events are unacceptable and many people
Leslie Aguilar
Chamberlain College of Nursing
NR 322: Pediatric Nursing
3/28/15
Trial Testing in Children Our country is one where every day, new medical treatments and medicines are being discovered and being approved to help Americans battle all of the different diseases and conditions that affect us. In order for us to be able to get access to those medications and treatments, many people agree to become part of clinical trials, they are the first to receive the treatments, this helps to understand how the body will be affected and if the medication will be effective. People who are part of these clinical trials, go through extensive medical testing, and they must be of sound mind and fully understand what the clinical trial is about and everything it implies, and they must be the ones making the decision, no one should be forcing them to do it. So what happens when the effects of medication and treatments need to be tested on children, because like adults, children suffer from many diseases and conditions that need new treatments, do children really understand what clinical trials are?, do they understand the risks of the trials?, is it acceptable for parents to make the decision of children being part of these trials since they are the adults and the ones who understand?, where is the line drawn when it comes to children being part of clinical trials?, there are so many complicated questions and sometimes the answers are just as complex.
Ethical Dilemma Pediatric clinical trials have not been heard of until 1955, when Hepatitis studies were performed at Willowbrook School in New York. This school housed hundreds of mentally challenged children, the physician of this school and his staff deliberately infected children with hepatitis, with the purpose of being able to create a vaccine that would cure the disease (Laventhal, Tarini & Lantos, 2012). To this day, these events are unacceptable and many people
References: American Nurses Association. (2001). Code of ethics for nurses with interpretive statements. Retrieved from http://www.nursingworld.org/ethics/code/protected_nwcoe303.html American Nurses Association (n.d.) Short definitions of ethical principles and theories, familiar words, what do they mean? Retrieved from http://www.nursingworld.org/MainMenuCategories/EthicsStandards/Resources/Ethics-Definitions.pdf Laventhal, N., Tarini, B., & Lantos, J. (2012). Ethical Issues in Neonatal and Pediatric Clinical Trials. Pediatric Clinics of North America, 59(5), 1205–1220. doi:10.1016/j.pcl.2012.07.007