Ethics of the publication of disaster medical study

Abstract

In this article, the author discussed how to publish disaster medical studies from an ethical point of view. It points out that first the studies reported in the Japanese Association for Disaster Medicine should be based on science. Then, it should be in line with the ethical principle of the medical study such as “Declaration of Helsinki”. This declaration insists us researchers to follow its general principle in which it states “While the primary purpose of medical research is to generate new knowledge, this goal can never take precedence over the rights and interests of individual research subjects.” In other words, “ethics of the individual” is regarded as being superior to “ethics of the society”. However, in the scene of the large-scale disaster, “ethics of the society” were often looked down on “ethics of the individual”, e.g. the triage is carried out as the process of establishing the priority of patients’ treatment. Therefore, researchers who would participate in the disaster medical study should consider “ethics of the individual” more carefully. Finally, instructions about the publication were discussed. Researchers should pay the scrupulous attention how to publish the findings in order to keep the social trust.