What are the ethical issues to consider when taking public health action in response to an epidemic like bird flu? What are the implications to clinicians and researchers of the Supreme Court’s decision to recognise under-age marriages? How are international discussions on intellectual property rights relevant to India? Our editorial writers discuss these subjects.
Is it right to subject psychiatric patients in distress to a placebo-controlled drug trial when an effective drug exists for the problem? Two specialists discuss a recently published report on a placebo-controlled trial of a drug for acute mania. The trial was conducted in India. The corresponding author of the study replies.
One in four women has a chance of undergoing hysterectomy in her lifetime. Two surgeons discusses ethical considerations in laparoscopic hysterectomies.
From Pakistan, a researcher argues for different standards of care in clinical trials depending on the researchers’ intentions and financial resources, the potential gains from the research and the subsequent utilisation of the results.
Cover photograph: Sandeep Saxena, THE HINDU