Short History of Research Ethics with Selected Cases

Research ethics improved by the increase in number and variety of clinical and sociological research on human subjects. the developments in medicine and technology produced possibilities which were not present in the years when research ethics concept first came up. the researches which started with pure scientific curiosity led to unforeseen ethical discussions. at the end of these ethical discussions new concepts are developed, legislations are passed or updated. this manuscript addresses the cases which are considered as corner stones of research ethics in twentieth and twenty first century up to date and defines the ethical discussions and their results, starting from the first informed consent by walter reed and proceed in chronological order. apart from clinic research on human subjects, sociologic research such as tearoom trade study and public health research such as kennedy kruiger lead study are addressed to provide a wider perspective. finally ethical discussions arising from newborn blood tests are referred, to remark ethical implications of genetics and biobanks.