Physicians should use evidence-based guidelines as a starting point to make sound clinical treatment decisions for a patient's individual medical needs.
The Declaration of Helsinki was recently revised to require that the control arm of a trial use the current standard of care, even if that standard is not generally available in developing nations where the research is being conducted.
An ethical case describes an accident where a minor is killed while bungee jumping and her older brother must decide if her wishes to be an organ donor should be honored.
Those conducting Western-style clinical trial research in developing countries must consider the manner in which ethical principals are implemented within local standards of care.
William E. Novotny, MD and Ronald M. Perkin, MD, MA
Physicians need to understand the resources available to them to serve the sometimes conflicting needs of the pediatric patients' best interest and the religious beliefs of the patients' parents.
Physicians need to understand the resources available to them to serve the sometimes conflicting needs of the pediatric patients' best interest and the religious beliefs of the patients' parents.