American Research Journal of Medicine and Surgery

For the majority of human history, practicing medicine has been guided by ethical codes shaped according to social customs. Research, on the other hand, has been left unaddressed for centuries without rules or regulations resulting in the abuse of countless vulnerable individuals. However, the horrors displayed in the past century, especially in Nuremberg and Tuskegee, could be ignored no longer, as the world public and not just physicians addressed the ethics of care. Present in countless codes and guidelines regulating therapeutic care, the fundamental thread of beneficence was reemphasized and resulted in the transition from paternalism to a new found respect for autonomy. With this paradigm shift came a boom in ethical concern around the world, providing protection for the vulnerable members of our globalized society.