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Practicing research ethics: Private-sector physicians & pharmaceutical clinical trials

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  • Fisher, Jill A.

Abstract

This paper focuses on constructions of research ethics by primary care physicians in the USA as they engage in contract research for the pharmaceutical industry. Drawing first on historical studies of physicians as investigators and then on 12 months of qualitative fieldwork in the Southwestern US, this paper analyzes the shifting, contextualized ethics that shape physicians' relationships with patients/subjects and pharmaceutical companies. Just as physicians followed professional codes of ethics prior to the codification of acceptable research conduct in the 1980s, physicians today continue to develop tacit systems of research ethics. This paper argues that private-sector physicians primarily conceptualize their ethical conduct in relation to the pharmaceutical companies hiring them, not to human subjects they enroll in clinical trials. This is not to say that these physicians do not follow the formal U.S. regulation to protect human subjects, but rather that their financial relationships with the pharmaceutical industry have a greater influence on their identities as researchers and on their constructions of their ethical responsibilities.

Suggested Citation

  • Fisher, Jill A., 2008. "Practicing research ethics: Private-sector physicians & pharmaceutical clinical trials," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(12), pages 2495-2505, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:66:y:2008:i:12:p:2495-2505
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. repec:mpr:mprres:3869 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Hoeyer, Klaus & Dahlager, Lisa & Lynöe, Niels, 2005. "Conflicting notions of research ethics: The mutually challenging traditions of social scientists and medical researchers," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 61(8), pages 1741-1749, October.
    3. Morris, Norma & Bàlmer, Brian, 2006. "Volunteer human subjects' understandings of their participation in a biomedical research experiment," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(4), pages 998-1008, February.
    4. Featherstone, Katie & Donovan, Jenny L., 2002. ""Why don't they just tell me straight, why allocate it?" The struggle to make sense of participating in a randomised controlled trial," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 55(5), pages 709-719, September.
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    Cited by:

    1. Henry Adobor, 2012. "Ethical Issues in Outsourcing: The Case of Contract Medical Research and the Global Pharmaceutical Industry," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 105(2), pages 239-255, January.
    2. Timmermans, Stefan & McKay, Tara, 2009. "Clinical trials as treatment option: Bioethics and health care disparities in substance dependency," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 69(12), pages 1784-1790, December.
    3. Cox, Susan M. & McDonald, Michael, 2013. "Ethics is for human subjects too: Participant perspectives on responsibility in health research," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 224-231.

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