The Commitment to Science
The association of medicine with science is at the core of the profession’s expertise. This chapter explains that doctors are duty-bound to base their diagnoses and treatment decisions on scientific evidence because patients rely on that commitment when seeking treatment and advice. Thus, the commitment to science is a core duty of medical ethics. The chapter argues that doctors should be committed to advancing biomedical knowledge and supporting medicine’s research agenda. In that light, the chapter opposes two widely accepted views. One is the World Medical Association’s position that physicians should focus exclusively on the good of their individual patient. The other is the US Common Rule’s distinction between clinical innovation and research, which has the effect of driving a wedge between medical ethics and research ethics. The chapter also addresses challenging issues of how human subject research should be conducted, research oversight, consent, vulnerable subjects, and placebo studies.