Independence of ethics committees in health research, a reflexive analysis

Abstract

The historical errors in medical research led the world to create research ethics committees in Health (REC), pluri and multidisciplinary organizations conformed by professionals with variate skills, specializations and forms of thinking, oriented to evaluate research projects and follow-up its develop, with independence, focused to guarantee subject’s protection and the safety, and scientific integrity. This article reflects about committee’s independence, supported on categories independence, freedom and autonomy, Beauchamp and Childress’s bioethics principles, Maliandi and Thüer, applied to REC and related publications. Regarding the independence of the committees, it’s important, and its related to REC members, researchers, sponsors, regulatory entities, and institutions to which the REC belong —educational, health organizations and governmental and private research centers—, with goals associated with research, publications and contracts to project’s assessments. While it is true there is institutional commitment to support the REC’s independence, its necessary review how it really works, how its relate to bioethics dilemmas, how it’s articulated with the principles of respect for the autonomy-individuality, justice-universality, non-maleficence-conservation and, beneficence-realization with the convergent ethics and the concept of experts who have researched about the subject. Conclusion: At present, it is not possible to guarantee the REC’s independence, for these reasons, should be defined as additional measures and strategies to strengthen its independence.

Keywords

• research ethics committees
• institutional review boards
• ethics
• independence
• freedom
• autonomy
• principle-based ethics
• bioethics