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Ethical Issues in Surgical Research

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Key Topics in Surgical Research and Methodology

Abstract

All biomedical research, including clinical medical and surgical research, should conform to a set of ethical principles first delineated in the Nuremburg Code, and subsequently expanded upon in the Belmont and Helsinki Reports. Despite this agreement on principles of human subjects' research in the medical field, there is a lack of clarity about special aspects of surgical research ethics when compared with medical research ethics. Because of the unique relationship between the surgeon and his/her patient, which includes extraordinary proximity and a degree of physical violence, many regard surgical ethics as a unique entity. We define surgical research ethics as research that involves actual procedures and/or operations. The spe-cific ethical issues in surgical research that we discuss are randomized controlled trials, placebo surgery, and surgical innovation and its regulation. Strategies for the adaptation to new cultural norms and expectations are also discussed.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surgery, The University of Chicago, University of Chicago Medical Center, 5841 South Maryland Avenue, MC 5031, Chicago, IL, 60637, USA

    Amy G. Lehman & Peter Angelos

Authors
  1. Amy G. Lehman
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  2. Peter Angelos
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. Biosurgery & Surgical Technology, Imperial College London St. Mary's Hospital London, 10th floor QEQM Bldg. Praed Street, London, W2 1NY, United Kingdom

    Thanos Athanasiou  & Ara Darzi  & 

  2. UCSF Global Health Sciences, 3333 California Street, Suite 285, San Francisco L, CA, 94143-0443, USA

    Haile Debas

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© 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Lehman, A.G., Angelos, P. (2010). Ethical Issues in Surgical Research. In: Athanasiou, T., Debas, H., Darzi, A. (eds) Key Topics in Surgical Research and Methodology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-71915-1_19

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-71915-1_19

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-71914-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-540-71915-1

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

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