Evaluating the practice of ethical review by Research Ethics Committees (REC) could help protect the interests of human participants and promote scientific progress. To facilitate such evaluations, we conducted an ethnographic study of how an REC reviews research proposals during its meetings. We observed 13 meetings of a Dutch REC and studied REC documents. We coded this material inductively a...

Ethics committees are the most important practical instrument of clinical ethics in Belgium and fulfil three tasks: the ethical review of experimental protocols, advising on the ethical aspects of healthcare practice, and ethics consultation. In this article the authors examine the current situation of ethics committees in Belgium from the perspective of clinical ethics. Firstly, the most impor...

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If neonates are to receive the best possible treatment, they must be involved in clinical trials. However, doing such trials raises complicated ethical issues. These issues are not unique to neonatology but some are more common or acute than in other areas of medicine. In practice, two particular issues -- equipoise and informed consent -- arise as many different types of problem. The question ...