3 ms·
This makes no sense to me. Preventing challenge trials causes more people to die and become permanently ill. What ethical system are you operating under where t
by benchaney 6y ago
This makes no sense to me. Preventing challenge trials causes more people to die and become permanently ill. What ethical system are you operating under where that is morally preferable?
FWIW, ethicists were split, but mostly on board with HCTs. It was mostly the government that was opposed.
- jedimastert 6y agoIIRC, we were fairly unaware of the long term effects at that point. All we really knew was that age had a factor. So a bunch of healthy young people would have signed up, thinking that the chances of harm, even if they got the placebo, were fairly low, when in reality there were significant chances of being permanently (or at least very long term) maimed. Essentially, no one signing up for the trial would have been properly able to give consent, because no one knew the real consequences.
- benchaney 6y agoNobody knew what the long term effects were, but we knew that there was uncertainty about them. Informed consent doesn't require perfect information. Just the best possible information, and a fair appraisal of uncertainty.