The Ethical Reflection On Human Subject's "Free Withdrawal"

Since Nuremberg Code was enacted in 1948, the human subject obtained a right to withdraw from experiments at any time freely, then, this right past down Declaration of Helsinki(1964), International Ethical Guidelines for Biomedical Research Involving Human Subject (CIOMS) and Good Clinical Practice (OCP, 1999 & 2003). Firstly, I reflect on the ethical grounds and relief system of"the right to withdraw"from the perspective of promise, and I think that the subject's consent to join experiments can be considered as a promise under some constraints, so human subjects have the obligation to stay in the experiments in some special contexts. Besides, the right to withdraw implies the congruencies and conflicts between these two conceptions. On the one hand, the right to withdraw is helpful to protect human subjects; on the other hand, this right as a kind of freedom exemplifies the idea of respecting for subjects'autonomy. In some sense, respect for autonomy has the function of protecting human subject. However, the idea of protection and the idea of respect are different conceptions after all and have different moral grounds. In this article, I will focus on the ethical reflection on the moral grounds of'the right to withdraw'and on the problems caused by the practice of this right. Then, I will provide some suggestions for modifying the present ethical guidelines and law about medical research involving human subjects based on these reflections.