Conducting research on patients is one of the most sensitive issues that the hospital has to critically evaluate and take the recommended steps before conducting any form of research. The Belmont Report offers directives on the rules that must be observed by every hospital before conducting any form of research. This paper takes a look at the three fundamental ethical principles using the case study of the 14-year old suffering from depression.

The ethical principles are respect for persons, beneficence, and justice. respect for persons means that the decision to participate, and any consent for the release of information collected rests with the patient. In the case study, it is difficult for the 14 year old to make an informed choice and the ethical principle intervenes in such cases. The people who do not understand every aspect of the process and are can easily be coerced into being part of the research need to be protected through respect for persons. Beneficence involves regulating the tests done to individuals on grounds of the benefits of the research against the risks. The ethical principle states that before conducting research the hospital should ensure that the research does not do harm to the individual, and the benefits of the research outweigh the risks involved. In the case study a 14 year old patient can be helped through taking part in the research, however, parental consent is paramount before research on the patient. The third ethical principle is justice that is responsible for ensuring that people are treated fairly, and the results of the research are distributed and help everyone in the subsequent applications of the research. Justice as an ethical principle is not affected with the facts of the case study since it does not involve getting any form of consent for research. These responsibilities are laid upon the hospital that should ensure that they heed by the moral principles for their results and research to be credible and useful in subsequent treatments. The hospital is also responsible for the selection of the subjects to be tested before conducting the research and ensure they meet the set standards.