Description
Please read the case description and questions that follow. Write 4-5 pages of text. Format your document by using 1-inch margins. Use Times New Roman 12 or Arial 11 font and include double spacing between lines. You will then upload the document containing your analysis. Please use complete sentences.
Case description
Dr. Narcissus is a meticulous and careful researcher, but he is also an unlikeable character. Nobody who works with Dr. Narcissus enjoys his company, but many want to work with him to further their own research careers. Dr. Narcissus is conducting a study on heat stress experienced by agricultural workers who pick tomatoes in South Florida. Dr. Narcissus’ research is important because heat stress can produce a series of maladies in workers, including acute kidney injury. Most of the people that Dr. Narcissus studies are from Mexico. The research is conducted in collaboration with a community organization that works directly with farmworkers. All procedures have already been reviewed and approved by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) of the university where Dr. Narcissus works, as well as the community organization. The study procedures involve the study team setting up a tent near the worksite so that transportation to the study site is not a barrier for participation. For a study visit, the workers must provide their informed consent before providing 2ml of blood before and after the work shift, completing a questionnaire before and after the work shift, and consuming an ingestible core body temperature sensor to measure body temperature during the work shift. Participants receive $70 for their participation that day ($30 for completing the pre-work shift measures, and $40 for completing the post-work shift measures). The consent form allows participants to select one of the following two options: 1. Their blood sample is destroyed immediately following the current study, or 2. Their blood sample be stored indefinitely to be used in future research. For participants who select option #2 (storing their blood sample indefinitely), participants are then given options as to whether their identity be removed from, or kept with, the sample stored for future use.
A subset of the participants in the study claims Indigenous identity. Some participants within this subset of workers perceive human blood to be an extension of the self. When blood is extracted from their arm, it is understood that the researcher now takes a piece of the participant’s being away. Despite the best efforts by Dr. Narcissus’ team to educate the community about the research being conducted, some Indigenous workers begin spreading the word that the university where Dr. Narcissus works is paying $70 to buy a small portion of workers’ blood. While selling blood is an unattractive scenario for the Indigenous subset of workers, some feel as though they have already sacrificed so much and that this is just another example of the indignity that migrants experience living inside the United States.
Carlos is currently working as a data collector for the study being conducted by Dr. Narcissus. Carlos is responsible for administering informed consent, collecting blood and behavioral data from research participants. Beyond his role as a data collector, Carlos has a personal interest in the biospecimens being collected from the current study. Carlos is a PhD candidate who plans to conduct his doctoral research on the metabolomics of agricultural workers in South Florida. Carlos’s dissertation advisor will probably be Dr. Narcissus. Carlos has already spoken with Dr. Narcissus about using the data derived from the blood samples in this current study for his dissertation research at a future point in time. On study days, scheduling research participants can become intense for Carlos as workers form lines to participate in the study. One day, a 40-year-old woman with Indigenous identity arrives to the study site and sits down as Carlos begins reviewing the informed consent form with her. She is totally fluent in Spanish, and Carlos administers the consent form in the Spanish language. When Carlos is about halfway through reading the informed consent form, the woman waives her hand and says that she already knows about the study from her coworkers, and that she is here to sell her blood to the researchers for $70. On the consent form, Carlos quickly indicates that the blood can be stored indefinitely, and that the woman’s identity can be kept with the sample during future use. The participant signs the consent form and then moves through all study procedures to receive her $70 by the end of the day. Nobody complains about anything and there is no incident to report.
Question
Was it ethical for Carlos to indicate on the consent form that the participant’s blood can be stored indefinitely, and that the woman’s identity can be kept with the sample during future use?
-Use the following questions to structure the essay:
Written case analyses (100 points per case)
Students will be asked to critically analyze two cases provided by the instructor. The case analyses are intended to help prepare students for the doctoral competency assessment. For each case analysis, students will be asked to write narrative responses regarding the case. Students should critically reflect upon the following points prior to writing their narrative responses.
1. Summarize the pertinent details of the case in 3-5 sentences.
2. What is an ethical issue germane to a given case/issue/scenario? (e.g., rights, bodily integrity, harm, privacy, confidentiality, duties, virtue, justice, responsibility, freedom, respect, dignity, well-being, risk, the public good., etc.)
3. What is the information available to make decisions with?
4. Who are the stakeholders involved?
5. What power dynamics are at play?
6. What are decisionmakers’ options and potential actions? Are there alternative courses of action that
should be considered?
7. What is the process for making decisions, and what values underlie that
