In memory of Jay Katz
Dr. Jay Katz, a scholar and major figure in the field of research ethics, died yesterday in New Haven at age 86. Katz, a physician and Yale law school professor, served on the Tuskegee Syphilis Study Ad Hoc Advisory Panel. Not only did the Panel publicly declare the study itself blatantly unethical, they contributed to the regulations and guidelines that are in place today to protect human participants in research.
Here’s a link to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s website, noting the contribution of the Ad Hod Advisory Panel:
Research Implications from the Tuskegee Syphilis Study’s Ad Hoc Advisory Panel
The Final Report of the Panel (1973) clearly notes the importance of 3 fundamental issues in research ethics: Oversight of governmental agencies conducting human participant research, informed consent and the establishment of ethical review boards to oversee the conduct of research. This document contributed to The Common Rule, which, in the USA, is a key policy for protection of human participants.
Katz also did fundamental (and at the time of publication, groundbreaking) work, examining and articulating the complexity of ethical issues within the traditional physician-patient relationship in his book,The Silent World of Doctor and Patient. This is a book every bioethicist and research ethicist, without a doubt, has on their bookshelf. Or should.
Here is more on Jay Katz, from the PRIMR website, from which he recieved a Lifetime Achievement Award in Ressearch Ethics: Jay Katz: In Memoriam
Other books by Jay Katz:
Research Ethics Blog 