Topic: The Ethics of Experimental Treatments
Country: Turkey
Delegate Name: Meagan Schlaf
School: Roeper School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Turkey position papers GLIMUN 2014 committees
Turkey looks forward to working with fellow delegations to discuss and deliberate the issue of experimental treatments. The ethics of using experimental treatments has been long debated, and with the Ebola crisis still ravaging West Africa and threatening the world, Turkey believes it is imperative to discuss this issue and reach a resolution regarding experimental treatments.
There are two main issues with experimental treatments: the ethics of giving minimally tested drugs to humans, and the procedure for deciding who is given these treatments. In the case of Ebola for example, the debate is over whether there must be a control group in the use of experimental treatments or if everyone must be given the treatment; there is also the issue of the limited availability of certain drugs.
Some nations argue that it is unethical to use experimental treatments because of the lack of proven results and the possibility that the patient could become sicker. However, Turkey believes it is ethical to give patients experimental drugs as long as they have given their informed consent. This consists of making the patient aware of all the risks of the medicine as well as its previous results. In cases where the patient is too sick to give this informed consent, the process should be turned over to relatives. When medicine is under limited availability, it is difficult to decide who should be given the treatment, but Turkey believes that patients who are most likely to respond well to the treatment should be given priority. Medical professionals and experts on the drug should determine this likelihood.
There is also a debate over whether a control group is necessary in all cases. Other countries argue that without a control group it is impossible to determine whether the treatment is successful due to confounding of the symptoms of the disease with the failure of the treatment. In regards to this issue, Turkey sides with most European nations. In cases where the disease is not life threatening in the short term, then there must be a control group. In cases like Ebola, however, Turkey believes a control group is unethical. Even if the experimental treatments do cause patients to die, they would already be dying from Ebola. We have an ethical duty to give them, to the best of our knowledge, the best chance they could have. Additionally, the success of the medication could still be determined using a comparison of death rates with the treatment to death rates before the treatment, as Doctors Without Borders and the health ministries of many nations have suggested is possible.
With the Ebola crisis growing, experimental treatments are now more important than ever. Turkey knows a decision must be made quickly and would like to thank its fellow delegates for their presence and cooperation.
