Answer: In my opinion no studies of this nature should ever be done. All patients are protected from harm by a healthcare professional....in the UK they are protected by the General Medical Council if the healthcare professional is a Doctor, and the Nursing & Midwifery Council if the healthcare professional is a Nurse, Midwife or Health Visitor. If any of these healthcare professionals knowingly cause harm to a patient not only will they have to stand before their relevant professional body where they will have to give account for their actions and if found guilty would be struck off the professional register but they also may be charged by the police with manslaughter if the person died, or attempted manslaughter and criminal assault as each professional body has a duty to report a case of such a nature to the police if it is seen as criminal conduct, also there would be very big lawsuits as it would also be negligence, if the person died relatives would be able to sue for millions, the same would happen if the study changed their life and the quality of life......the implications would be too huge, so I do not think that a healthcare professional would do such a study.
I am a midwife and could not and would not participate in such a study and I have a duty of care to all of my patients even the ones that are not directly under my care. I am also personally accountable for my actions, all healthcare professionals are, so even if we know such a study is going on and we choose to do or say nothing we are seen as just as guilty as the people who are causing harm to a person and therefore the consequences legally would be the same as the perpetraters.
There has been such studies in the past.....one that you might like to look up is called the; Tuskegee Study Of Untreated Syphilis In The Negro Male.
