Refusals of psychotropic medication by detained criminal defendants raise conflicting dual loyalties for psychiatrists between the duty to treat a patient and the duty to protect society from that patient.
A new AMA policy provide guidance for physician-scientists on dual-use research issues and reinforces the message that ethical conduct in scientific research ultimately rests with the individual researcher.
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.
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.
The AMA's Code of Medical Ethics' opinion on the use of databanks in genomic research requires informed consent by groups and individuals who are subjects of research.