Different types of clinical research are associated with different degrees of risk and with varying utility. Usually classified as therapeutic or non-therapeutic, clinical research involving children necessitates a balance between the conflicts of intrusion into a group of vulnerable subjects, and the obvious advantages which such intrusion engenders. To understand better the potential ethical dilemmas of paediatric research the author has expanded the classification of such clinical research involving children. Five types of such research--preventive research, curative research, research to alleviate (...) symptoms, studies to establish norms and baselines, and curiosity research--are discussed in the context of their ethical constraints, and the different ethical questions which confront workers operating in each of these different themes. (shrink)

Stereotyping, particularly negative stereotyping, is an important and pragmatic social issue. Contemporary mores have rightly condemned stereotyping by race, nationality and gender. Stereotyping in medicine has a number of important practical connotations. One of the most important is the attitudinal tradition of medical paternalism. Doctors have often stereotyped patients as subjects not being capable of considering relevant options in their own personal, clinical circumstances - for example, where major surgical intervention might be one course of action. Withholding full information of (...) all the outcomes, and rushing the doctor-patient decision process in such circumstances, constitutes one type of unethical stereotyping. (shrink)