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Moral Interests, Privacy, and Medical Research

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Part of the book series: International Library of Ethics, Law, and the New Medicine ((LIME,volume 42))

Abstract

This chapter examines the relationship between the values of research and privacy in the context of medical research on patient data. An analytical framework is developed by interpreting the conception of privacy advanced in the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights by reference to the Principle of Generic Consistency, seminally argued to be the supreme principle of morality by Alan Gewirth. This framework is used to uncloak the inequity of positions uncompromisingly prioritising research values over privacy values or vice versa—research worship and consent worship, respectively. We then apply this framework to three hypothetical studies to show how apparent conflicts between research and privacy values can be resolved.

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© 2008 Springer Science + Business Media B.V

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Beyleveld, D., Pattinson, S.D. (2008). Moral Interests, Privacy, and Medical Research. In: Boylan, M. (eds) International Public Health Policy and Ethics. International Library of Ethics, Law, and the New Medicine, vol 42. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-8617-5_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-8617-5_4

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-8616-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-8617-5

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

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