Essay Example: Privacy, Consent, and Confidentiality Issues in Biomedical and Biological Research

Healthcare professionals have a moral obligation to uphold human dignity and biological integrity. They are therefore faced with challenges that require them to make ethical choices in healthcare practice. There exist four universal principles of biomedical ethics which include autonomy respect, the principle justice, beneficence and that of nonmaleficence.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

Colombo, F., Sampogna, G., Cocozza, G., Guraya, S. Y., Forgione, A., Ammar, E. D., & Ghafeer, H. H. (2016). Journal of Microscopy and Ultrastructure.

This is a journal that was published in 2016. Its authors include Colombo, Sampogna, Cocozza, Guraya, Forgine, Ammar and Ghafeer. It focuses on the ethics that medical practitioners should practice in their review and conduct of clinical and medical research. They intensified their research on respect, privacy and confidentiality while carrying out medical research.

The journal is a product of intensive study and investigation of different print and electronic materials on biomedical ethics. According to these scholars, both the researcher and the informant should uphold confidentiality on oneself and for the other party. They recommend a thorough viewing of research documents and informant's feedback to guarantee the reliability of the research findings.

The journal is very informative and of aid to this research since we can borrow heavily from its print and electronic material that pertains biomedical ethics.

Kapp, M. B. (2006). Ethical and legal issues in research involving human subjects: do you want a piece of me? Journal of clinical pathology, 59(4), 335-339.

Marshall Kapp is the author of the article. He attempts to clarify the need for privacy and confidentiality while carrying out research that involves human beings. The article was authored in 2006 and published in the Journal of Clinical Pathology.

Kapp says that ethics in biomedical research should uphold human dignity, their independence both physical and psychological and their biological morality. He further adds that any research that demeans or degrades human dignity should be considered illegitimate and discarded. Kapp supports his assertions by adding that the USA has taken the issue of ethics seriously and established a body that offers safety to participants in research. This body also emphasizes that pathologists who deal with human tissues and fluids should take extra caution to ensure confidentiality. Kapp's paper focusses on these pathologists and the practice of extracting human tissues for present or future use, emphasizing that the participants should be informed and privacy, security, and confidentiality guaranteed to them.

The dos and don'ts in the clinical research ethics will be of help to us in the study since it will serve as a guideline.

Emanuel, E. J., Wendler, D., & Grady, C. (2000). What makes clinical research ethical? Jama, 283(20), 2701-2711.

These authors of the article are Emanuel J., Wendler D. and Grady C. The article was published in 2000 in the Jama Journal. These scholars refute the claim that clinical research is made ethical by informed consent only. They assert that it is an overemphasis on the idea of consent, saying that it can determine the ethical standard of research.

They come up with some universal requirements that constitute ethics while carrying out clinical research. Among their proposals for ethical research is the methodology used to carry out the research; should be scientific, the risk-benefit ratio; the advantages that the general society draws from the research should outdo the perils involved, independence and respect for those involved allowing them to opt out without conditions. Review of the research topic is necessary whereby impartial individuals review the issue and either approve or dismisses it. They, however, add that together with other requirements, informed consent becomes relevant in qualifying research to be ethical.

This journal is very important in the continuity of our study in the biomedical because it challenges the study, therefore broadening the scope of biomedical and biological research.

Godard, B., Schmidtke, J., Cassiman, J. J., & Ayme, S. (2004). Data storage and DNA banking for biomedical research: informed consent, confidentiality, quality issues, ownership, return of benefits. A professional perspective. European Journal of Human Genetics, 11(S2), S88.

The authors of the this article are Godard, Schmidtke, Cassiman and Ayme. It was published in 2004 in the European Journal of Human Genetics. In their paper regarding ethics in biomedical practice and research, these scholars focus on the extraction of human tissues specifically the DNA and their storage in the medical banks.

Besides reviewing the universal guidelines that have been placed by other researchers, these authors have looked at other frameworks such as the scholarly and legal concerning storage of DNA data. The researcher did intensive research in a workshop that was held in Paris, France to determine the relevance of DNA banking in the medical sector and society in general. The study recommends a universal and international organization that will set standards regarding DNA storage. This standardization will be crucial in guaranteeing privacy to individuals taking part in the research and also to the future of the biomedical industry.

This journal is vital in the research study because it is a result of professional teamwork that concentrated on an area that has not been given much attention before that the research can borrow heavily.

Petrini, C. (2010). "Broad" consent, exceptions to consent and the question of using biological samples for research purposes different from the initial collection purpose. Social science & medicine, 70(2), 217-220.

Petrini is the author of the article which was published in 2010. Petrini differs with other scholars in the quality of the consent that is required in research. He, in his paper, advocates for broad consent that covers the future use of the data obtained from human specimens to avoid conflicts that may arise in the future regarding the same. He argues that although it may not be possible for researchers to determine all the future uses of the data, it is essential to inform the participants of the possible situations and conditions concerning utility of the data. .

This article is important to this study because it gives alternative views on a different platform from what other scholars advocate for. It is useful for researchers because it will help the study to look into the future samples acquired.

Emanuel, E. J., Wendler, D., Killen, J., & Grady, C. (2004). What makes clinical research in developing countries ethical? The benchmarks of ethical research. The Journal of infectious diseases, 189(5), 930-937.

Emanuel, Wendler, Killen, and Grady authored and published this journal in the year 2004. At the beginning of their work, these authors have recognized that for improvement of the medical sector, there is a need for research and the research requires human participation. He also acknowledges that human beings are often unwilling to give their health details and organic or biological samples because they fear for their security.

Emanuel and his fellow scholars focus their study on the third world developing countries because they are the people who are most likely affected by the issue of privacy when it comes to the handling of patients' information. They feel the need for the establishment of bodies, both governmental and non-governmental that will assure the public of their confidentiality and privacy and safety and that will, in turn, enhance research processes in these countries.

This article forms a reference base for our medicine and medical research if we can borrow from any secondary data from developing countries.

Portaluppi, F., Smolensky, M. H., & Touitou, Y. (2010). Ethics and methods for biological rhythm research on animals and human beings. Chronobiology International, 27(9-10), 1911-1929.

Portaluppi, Smolensky, and Touitou are the authors of this article. The article was published in 2010 by Chronobiology International journal. These scholars not only focus their attention on research concerning human beings but also other animals. Chronobiology International journal only publishes intensely studied and logically presented papers thus making it credible for other researchers.

These scholars assert that scientific researchers should foresee possible outbreak of war that may be caused by their findings and counter them before they manifest. These conflicts, they say, can be resolved if not avoided, by adhering to the various organizations that guarantee ethics to human beings and other animals. They encourage researchers to familiarize themselves with procedures and methodologies involved research, including the ethical requirements.

This work is important to this research because it helps this medical research to prevent any arising conflicts that may arise from any work specifically when collecting specimens.

Shalowitz, D. I., & Miller, F. G. (2005). Disclosing individual results of clinical research: implications of respect for participants. Jama, 294(6), 737-740.

Shalowitz and Miller published this clinical research journal in the year 2005. These authors focus on the disputes that exist during the delivery of research results. These results could be of general scientific research aimed at improving the healthcare facilities through the advancement of drugs and equipment. They could also be of research on an individual participant seeking healthcare services.

The dilemma that exists is during the communication of such results to individuals or within and among themselves. The biomedical predicament is due to the involvement of genetic knowledge in which the researcher or the medical practitioner gets to know the genetic composition of individuals. Most individuals are uncomfortable with their genetic exposure.

This work is important to the study because this research will borrow heavily from the attempted possible solutions to the problem of results delivery in ways that are respectful and uphold human dignity.

Hansson, M. G. (2009). Ethics and Biobanks. British Journal of Cancer, 100(1), 8.

Ethics and Biobanks is an article by Hansson that was published in the British Journal of Cancer in 2009. Hansson's work is a general concurrence with other biomedical scholars. Besides agreeing with them that broad consent is the primary constituent of medical ethics, he says that it can lead to forwarding progress of the biomedical research and practice industry.

Hansson says that there has been a consensus about the issue of consent whether general or broad, and the remaining task is to find ways of return or delivery of research outcomes to the various stakeholders involved in the research. He recommends that there is need to invent techniques that will solve the dilemma of results delivery. These techniques should improve the general reception of the results and reaction of the involved individuals. In the sources he has reviewed in his work, several have suggested that there is need to share the research benefits between the researcher and the society.

Hansson's work, like that of Shalowitz and Miller, gives solutions to the problem of result delivery. Thus, these two works will provide to the study a further research gap to be explored by different scholars to find the most appropriate ways to deliver good results.