Ethical examination in the field of medical research: a way to protect human rights

Abstract

It is indicated that the statement that the legislation of our country does not provide full protection of human rights, including when conducting biomedical research, does not require additional argumentation. Attention is focused on the fact that, despite such a large number and diversity of bioethics committees, it is worth noting that today it is not possible to state with certainty the existence of a full-fledged system of interconnected ethics committees, since the existing normative documents on their activities are of a temporary nature, and functions and tasks assigned to them are not always clearly defined. In addition, there is an opinion that attempts to bureaucratize the existing situation (establish clear departmental subordination, define vertical and horizontal connections between ethics committees) are highly undesirable. Of course, on the one hand, excessive complication and bureaucratization will not contribute to progressive development in the activities of committees, and the system that has chaotically developed today is also not satisfactory. In order to improve the current situation and establish the institutional protection of citizens’ rights in the field of health care, it is advisable to make significant changes in domesticlegislation, for which it is necessary to thoroughly analyze it, based on the identification of patterns, certain methods and systematization, which, in fact, will act as one from areas of bioethical expertise. In the most general form, the ethics committee should be a specialized structure dealing with ethical issues of medical and biological sciences, examination of research projects and examination of draft laws, development of necessary recommendations, as well as development of innovative policies in the field of health care. Such committees should consist of a number of experts and be interdisciplinary in nature.The author claims that a full-fledged legal basis for the functioning of ethics committees has not yet been created, their goals, tasks, principles of activity have not been defined. The existing committees are unsystematic entities that do not have the authority to suspend or prohibit dangerous biomedical research involving humans, which means that they do not have the ability to fully protect the rights and freedoms of subjects. Such a state of affairs contradicts the requirements of internationalstandards and cannot fully serve to achieve the goals of forming a social, democratic and legal state.