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ELITE Vol.1, Issue 39, January 2022
Vol.1, Issue 39, January

Behind the Medical Curtain

Nada Adel Ismail - Level 3 - Economics
The role of doctors, which we all appreciate, is to the volunteer must be obtained. Where that consent
heal people, try to reduce the pain they feel, and includes that he has sufficient knowledge and
strive for human health and safety. There is no doubt awareness about what the experiment entails, and that
that scientific experiments in the field of medicine the volunteer is free to withdraw his consent at any
reflect the scientific development taking place in a time, even after the start of the experiment, without
country. For it is in the interest of the human race and fear and without depriving him of the treatment
strives to achieve its highness and safety. However, entrusted to him.
by looking at history, we find that there are doctors According to Islamic sharia, scientific experiments on
and scholars who did not seek to achieve these humans are divided into two types:
things, they rather deliberately caused something • Experiments that do not harm humans or have little
completely opposite to that. Whether for their harm that can be controlled. These experiments have
passion for knowledge, or to reach useful results in been conducted on non-humans and scientists have
times of war, or to prove their own theories, all by
conducting experiments on humans as “used tools” concluded that they are harmless, provided that an
without regard to the ethics of scientific research, official approval is obtained from the volunteer.
human rights, or professional conscience. Thus, these • Experiences that harm a person and cause harm to
experiments represent violations and abuses that are him or any of his organs, or experiments that change a
scientifically, morally and religiously unacceptable. person's image and appearance.
Scientific experiments on humans have many types, The first type is permissible and even desirable. As for
including surgical experiments, human radiation the second type, it is not permissible to conduct such
experiments, chemical experiments, psychological experiments.
experiments and torture, drug research and other Speaking of the reasons and motives that drive
experiments. researchers, scientists and doctors to seek the carrying
However, to start of, when can we say that a out of those experiences, we can see that there are
scientific experiment that is carried out on humans is humans who seek knowledge for the sake of
immoral? It is not complicated, according to the knowledge, without thinking about ethics, human
Nuremberg Principles - the basic principles of ethics rights, or even conscience. But of course, attaining
in human experiments - for scientific experiments to knowledge is not the only reason.
be ethical on humans, the consent of

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