Resumen

FERNANDEZ GARROTE, Leticia M; LLANES FERNANDEZ, Leticia  y  LLANES LLANES, Eduardo. Reflections on clinical and epidemiological research ethics. Rev Cubana Salud Pública [online]. 2004, vol.30, n.3. ISSN 0864-3466.

Most health technologies directly act upon the human body and mind, therefore, there are always biological or psychological risks to be taken into consideration in relation to the safety of individuals. We must also think about the risks that an individual may take when the available staff is poorly trained or motivated or when the sanitary infrastructure is not appropriate. In spite of the potential benefits that the performance of research works on both patients and healthy subjects may bring to the populations, we should not ignore the elements that lead to risks for participating subjects and sometimes very small individual benefits. For these reasons, it is the responsibility of both the participating researchers and the authorities approving and financing the studies to assure minimum risks and great potential benefits. Changes in the physician-patient relationships, higher specialization and new possibilities of medical technologies lead us to make reflections on long-range consequences and effects from ethical, economic, demographic, psychological and legal viewpoints

Palabras clave : MEDICAL ETHICS; BIOETHICS; PHYSICIAN-PATIENT RELATIONSHIPS; CONFIDENTIALITY; EPIDEMIOLOGICAL RESEARCH; CONFLICT OF INTERESTS.