Adopted by the 18th WMA General Assembly, Helsinki, Finland, June 1964 and amended by the
This Convention, agreed in 1997, is the first legally-binding international text designed to preserve human dignity, rights and freedoms, through a series of principles and prohibitions against the misuse of biological and medical advances.
The Convention's starting point is that the interests of human beings must come before the interests of science or society. It lays down a series of principles and prohibitions concerning bioethics, medical research, consent, rights to private life and information, organ transplantation, public debate etc.
"It is incredible to think that although the founders of medical ethics, such as Hippocrates, published their works more than 2000 years ago, the medical profession, up until now, has not had a basic, universally used, curriculum for the teaching of medical ethics. This WMA Ethics Manual aims to fill that void. The Manual’s origin dates back to the 51st World Medical Assembly in 1999. Physicians gathered there, representing medical associations from around the world, decided," to strongly recommend to Medical Schools worldwide that the teaching of Medical Ethics and Human Rights be included as an obligatory course in their curricula. "In line with that decision, a process was started to develop a basic teaching aid on medical ethics for all medical students and physicians that would be based on WMA policies, but not be a policy document itself. This Manual, therefore, is the result of a comprehensive global developmental and consultative process, guided and coordinated by the WMA Ethics Unit."
This UK Act gives effect to rights and freedoms guaranteed under the European Convention on Human Rights. The rights and fundamental freedoms set out are detailed in Articles 1 to 12 of The Convention; Articles 1 to 3 of the First Protocol; and, articles 1 and 2 of the Sixth Protocol. These are listed here for ease of reference.
This Act makes provision for the regulation of the processing of information relating to individuals, including the obtaining, holding, use or disclosure of such information. It sets out a number of data protection principles which can be accessed in Part 1 of Schedule 1
This Act makes provision for the disclosure of information held by public authorities or by persons providing services for them.
The Information Commissioner is an independent official appointed by the Crown to oversee the Data Protection Act 1998, the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and the Environmental Information Regulations 2004.
Information at this link is primarily related to clinical medical practice and research but there are important and useful documents, accessed through the ‘guidance’ hotlink, on 'research'; 'confidentiality'; and, 'consent'.
Although the focus is primarily medical this site has a number of relevant documents which can be accessed by following the links.. ‘Publications/ Ethics and Best Practice/ Ethics Series’. The guidance on Personal Information in Medical Research is the most relevant.
The Nuffield Council on Bioethics is an independent body established in 1991. Its terms of reference require it to consider ethical issues raised by new developments in medicine and biology. It has published a number of reports including ‘Genetic Screening: Ethical Issues’ the conclusions and recommendations of which are available on their website.
The Central Office for Research Ethics Committees (COREC), works on behalf of the Department of Health in England to, among other things, co-ordinate the development of operational systems for Research Ethics Committees (RECs) in the National Health Service in England. It is now part of the National Patient Safety Agency.
The website includes the Application Form and Guidance Notes necessary to apply for an Multi-centre Research Ethics Committees (MREC) ethical review, the meeting dates for the MRECs and their contact information. There are also contact details for Local Research Ethics Committees (LRECs), further guidance on aspects of the REC system and extensive links to other sites of interest to those involved in research on human subjects.
Of particular interest are the Governance Arrangements for NHS Research Ethics Committees (GAfREC) and the Standard Operating Procedures (both accessed through ‘REC Community/guidance’.
The Association of Research Ethics Committees is an independent, self-governing body of Research Ethics Committees, local and multi-centre, including their members and administrators. The Association provides meetings, training and advice for its members, and the opportunity to speak with one voice about the many difficult issues they face.
The HSE Research Ethics Committee is a member of this Association.
This site contains a number of relevant guidelines for making an ethics committee application and a link to the National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Research Involving Humans (1999).
Because of increasing concern about the ways in which patient information was being used in the NHS and because of the need to ensure that confidentiality is not undermined the Chief Medical Officer established the Caldicott Committee to review all patient-identifiable information which passes from National Health Service (NHS) organisations in England to other NHS or non-NHS bodies for purposes other than direct care, medical research, or where there is a statutory requirement for information. The purpose was to ensure that patient identifiable information is only transferred for justified purposes and that only the minimum necessary information is transferred in each case.
The British Psychological Society Code of Conduct, Ethical Principles and Guidelines set out certain minimum standards for conduct that Chartered Psychologists are required to comply with.
A Statement of Ethical Practice for the British Sociological Association (2002).
This site presents Ethical Guidelines for Statistical Practice prepared by the Committee on Professional Ethics of the American Statistical Association (1999)
ERIC is a continually expanding site. It comprises a collection of material relevant to the ethical review of medical research, catalogued to keywords. It is now part of COREC.
This Code of Practice and guidance under the UK Data Protection Act is valuable reading for those wishing to include video recording of subjects in their research.
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